Coloured Paper, 2012

For the series „Coloured Paper“, Lilly Lulay put together a large number of unused and used, coloured and white papers, with different textures and weights on a large pinboard. She then isolated certain compositions from this huge ensemble by photographing them with a digital Hasselblad camera according to rules that have remained unchanged to this day: take a standpoint, select a focal distance and chose a frame. 

The digital files were developed on photographic paper and laminated onto aluminium dibond, highlighting the discrepancy between the fragility of the materials represented in the image and the rigidity of the support chosen to give the work a physical existence. The motifs are abstract and at the same time could not be more concrete. In fact their tromp l'oeil effect makes us want to touch the surface or try to set the leaves in motion by blowing at them. In other words, what is being questioned here is the dual status of the photograph, which is not only a trace of reality, but also resembles it. The works are self-referential and at the same time refer to the basics of photography: rectangular cut-outs of paper that imitate three-dimensionality and texture.

Text: Cyril Vergès, expo Morceaux Choisis, Ilka Bree, Bordeaux, 2013