jane long immortalizes historic glass-plate photos with a surrealist twist

jane long immortalizes historic glass-plate photos with a surrealist twist
all photos © jane long

at the intersection of antiquity and modernity, the series ‘dancing with costică’ brings together the vintage charm of historic photographs and the whimsical possibilities of digital tools. australian artist jane long drew images from the archive of costică acsinte — a romanian photographer who, following his time as a documentary photographer during world war I, returned to the city of slobozia and took pictures of its local residents.

‘innocence’

adopting these portraits as the starting point of her project, long has reinterpreted the now-digitized glass-plate photos through a contemporary lens, giving them life within imaginative and playful environments. aged, black-and-white images of siblings in sailor costumes, women at work and a wedding party are colorized with vibrant hues and enlivened by unexpected, surreal motifs. the series will be exhibited as part of the ballarat international foto biennale from august 22nd to september 20, 2015.

‘underneath’

detail of ‘underneath’, where the two children have been transformed into hybrid sea creatures

‘a fond farewell’

detail of ‘a fond farewell’ where a small mouse sits on the small boy’s shoulder

‘the juggling act’

detail of ‘the juggling act’, where the two acrobats teeter on a clothesline

‘flock’

‘the idea farm’

‘neptune’s bride’

‘a stitch in time’

‘burn it down’

‘musica’

‘corvo’

‘all hands on deck’

‘tall poppies’