"Often aimlessly, without purpose, I wander through the alleys and streets of Petersburg, melancholic and lonely like a shadow. Oh, how precious memories are!"
From the novel We Parted on the Brightest Night (Fyodor Dostoevsky's short story White Nights, published by Wolma)
American photographer Deborah Turbeville (1932–2013) created works reminiscent of a dusty, old clock. The figures in her photographs, shrouded in a thin, transparent veil of night, appear as faint shadows. They evoke a dreamlike yet lonely atmosphere.
The exhibition "Deborah Turbeville: Atmosphere," opening on the 23rd at the Picnic exhibition space in Jung-gu, Seoul, presents a faint overlay of a once-brilliant past. The expressions of women in old spaces convey a vivid sense of the glamorous traces of bygone days.
This exhibition, a collaboration with the MUUS Collection, marks Turbeville's first solo show in Korea, featuring approximately 200 pieces, including 102 vintage prints and collages, along with 88 newly produced prints.
Turbeville was a leading figure in the new wave of fashion photography in the 1970s, alongside Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin. After working as a fashion editor for Harper's Bazaar and Mademoiselle, she began her photography career in her mid-30s. She directly challenged the conventions of fashion photography that depicted clothing and models in sharp, alluring detail. Her models, lost in thought and avoiding the camera's gaze, exist in a blur of outlines amidst old spaces and hazy light.
As Turbeville once said, "Atmosphere is something that cannot be grasped but is critically important." This exhibition leaves a lasting impression not through specific striking works but through the lingering ambiance that permeates the entire space. Like the white nights where light never completely fades, the works evoke a sense of 'lost time' and 'faded memories' that are intangible yet enduring.
The exhibition includes notable works such as "Bathhouse," published in American Vogue in 1975, the fictional fashion magazine Maquillage, and the photo book Invisible Versailles, commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1981.
Turbeville dedicated her life to exploring worlds that seem to exist beyond the immediate reality. Growing up near Boston, she traveled to various locations, including a coastal town in Maine where her family spent summers, St. Petersburg, Versailles, and San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Instead of capturing the opulence of Versailles, she framed images of dust-covered furniture, neglected rooms, and statues bearing the marks of time. She embodied the silence and decayed beauty that remain after brilliance fades, along with the traces of time lost.
Her photographs taken in St. Petersburg are particularly striking. Capturing the movements of ballet dancers against a backdrop of deep darkness, they convey the stillness that follows the end of a grand performance. The more one recalls the elegance and splendor of ballet, the deeper the sense of loneliness in the images becomes.
A lover of Russian literature, Turbeville visited St. Petersburg multiple times. Her 1997 photo book Studio St. Petersburg features writings from Russian literary figures such as Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Anna Akhmatova, and Joseph Brodsky. Additionally, visitors can see over 130 collage works titled Passport, which combine photographs and text based on unpublished stories she wrote in the late 1980s.
The exhibition runs until February 28, 2027. Admission is 15,000 won for adults and 10,000 won for youth and children.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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