Barbara Cole - Play of water and light

Photographer Barbara Cole manipulates the boundaries between reality and the dream world in her new illustrated book "Barbara Cole - Between Worlds". She creates an existence in which emotions and time melt into each other. Her picture book is an intense exploration of the themes of place, time and identity. Her photographs tell intense stories that trigger different reactions and emotions in each viewer. The metamorphosis of the human figure - by cloaking her models in anonymity or manipulating their sense of gravity - is the main motif around which Barbara Cole's revolutionary photography revolves.

The Canadian photographer is an exceptional artist celebrated for her raw and practical photographic process. Her special work is the result of a personal attitude in which no idea or goal remains unattainable. Since the early 1980s, she has continued to develop her passion and reverence for working with the camera, specialising her own style away from automatic cameras. Cole's artistic work finds its centre in her own underwater studio and darkroom. Her photography takes on a quintessential painterly quality, with the transformation of figures a predominant theme in her work. Over the last thirty years, although she works with traditional photographic means, Cole's approach and aesthetic has become closer to that of a painter. 

Flowing sounds and weightlessness

Barbara Cole works with recurring states of time and weightlessness. Her formative inspirations of water, light and shadow enable the artist to create worlds that take on fairy-tale features. To channel these often intangible states into creative impulses, the photographer drew inspiration for her book from the flowing sound of her favourite songs. Enjoy the playlist that influenced and helped shape "Barbara Cole - Between Worlds". Be entertained by Maggie Rogers, Jon Batiste, Black Pumas, The Arcs and many more.