The 52nd

Charlie Beresford (UK) and Gaëna Da Sylva (Quebec, Canada) have never met in person. They got to know each other through experiencing each other’s work on the internet. As they communicated more it became apparent that they had both had experiences in childhood that were very similar, both having grown up through their formative years in the same type of urban environment.

Their responses to the hostilities of these places were to take photographs. Each of them viewing the places they found themselves as a series of interesting shapes that captured light. It was quite moving for each of them to have realised that though 3000 miles separated their situations these two children were exploring where they were in exactly the same way.Born from this was the project “If Concrete Trees Were Possible”. Working on this project has sparked a wave of new ideas including the use of film and the inclusion of music by Charlie and his long term collaborator Tim Harries.

What has developed from this process is that there seems to be a unique place forming, an imaginary land, somewhere on the 52nd North Parallel a line that the UK and Quebec share. Where the edges of cultural and visual differences are beginning to blur.

www.the52nd.com

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