Mark Granier discusses David Stephenson’s ongoing project documenting two families in a series of intimate portrayals of private lives.
David Stephenson’s last exhibition, launched in Dublin’s Gallery of Photography in 2004, was called ‘Slant’. The photographs offered a unique perspective on Irish general, local and European election campaigns, specifically those large posters of blandly grinning faces attached to practically every lamp post in the land. Driving around the country, Stephenson followed the life cycle of these political posters, from their elevated debuts to their corruption by weather and vandalism and eventual compacting into bales in recycling plants. In addition to a rich metaphorical element, the show highlighted his mordant sense of humour and eye for design. Quite magically, Stephenson managed to humanise those starched visual euphemisms (the face of a sleek politician) by catching them in unflattering poses: peeping from behind telegraph poles, upside down, worn, slashed, faded and burnt. Entering the exhibition was a little like attending an absurdist tragicomedy. ‘Slant’ received a good review from Aidan Dunne, who noted Stephenson’s ‘flair for texture and brash colours’.
