Luciana D’Anunciação’s Echoes a Textural Body of Movement

At the SFU MFA Spring Exhibition, D'Anunciação's slow reveal of body is a teasingly visual masterpiece

In late March 2013, the Audain Gallery hosted the Spring Exhibition of the current Master of Fine Art students from Simon Fraser University.

Titled Syllogisms, there was a wide range of work to take in: a gallery full of paintings, sculpture, projection, and video.

I was asked by dancer Luciana D’Anunciação to photograph her performance, entitled Echoes, at Syllogisms.

I didn’t know what to expect. Luciana didn’t tell me much about her piece. But I had photographed her a couple times before, once at Dynamo, and once prior at Blim as part of Squarewaves Festival (the latter is actually how we met).

I admire Luciana’s work greatly, so I was honoured to be asked to shoot.

I knew that her performances, whether subtle or more dynamic, always impress.

But what I was not prepared for was how deftly she held the audiences’ attention in this new piece, teasingly slowly peeking parts of her body out a little at a time, how the heavily textured fabric would combine with the harsh bright light against the dark vastness of the studio and create brilliant contrast, how she would fully employ her thick head of tight curled hair to explode once she revealed her face.

This piece, and the resulting photos, are some of my favourite to date.

Luciana D’Anunciação is one to watch. Keep track of her! http://www.lucianaartwork.com/

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Image Gallery – photos by Ash Tanasiychuk