Rose DeSiano “A War Imagined”

Giacobetti Paul Gallery

poster for Rose DeSiano “A War Imagined”

This event has ended.

Giacobetti Paul presents A War Imagined the first New York solo exhibition of a Brooklyn native photographer, Rose DeSiano.

In this two-series exhibition, Tapestries and Men of War, DeSiano explores the impact of historical references on cultural symbolism, through alternative photographic processes and the visual allure of fragmented and digitally manipulated photos.

Tapestries is an exquisite set of eight oversized photobased jacquard woven fabrics. Each work from this series is a large-scale photographic tableau constructed by digitally merging and manipulating original photographs taken from battle scenes of US-based WWII and Vietnam reenactments. Images of war reenactors, original machinery and weaponry, as well as photographs of the pastoral European landscapes in which these historical battles originally took place. DeSiano’s decision to work with this alternative photographic medium is motivated by her ongoing interest in how battle imagery has functioned throughout history. By alluding to famous battle tapestries such as the V&A’s War of Troy and The Tapestries of the Apocalypse at the Château d’Angers, DeSiano’s fabrics reference the long history of battle tapestries that conflate history with myth.

Shown together with her tapestries is Men of War, a series of traditional photographic prints portraying real war veterans displayed alongside reenacted battle scenes of the war in which they served, revealing how war re-enactments are period-piece events that symbolize an idealized past — one of virtue and simplicity. In these events civilian day-trippers play out fantasies of grandeur and heroism, the real life veterans use these events to cathartically relive personal trauma within the familiar context of war, while in the safety of civilian event. This juxtaposition functions symbolically to visually represent the inconsistencies between the beliefs and behavior in these war games and American military culture.

Rose DeSiano (b.1979) has spent the last three years dressing up as a WWII War correspondent—crawling in the mud all over the United States. By immersing herself in the battles and war re-enactment communities, she has gained the trust of the participants enabling her rare proximity to the action and better insight into the allure of these unique nostalgic events. Desiano has exhibited widely across the United States as well internationally, including the Netherlands and China. Her work has appeared in publications such as The New Photo Review and Aesthetica magazine. When not in the “staged trenches”, Rose DeSiano lives in Brooklyn, NY and works in Kutztown, PA.

Media

Schedule

from October 03, 2013 to November 02, 2013

Opening Reception on 2013-10-03 from 18:00 to 21:00

Artist(s)

Rose DeSiano

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