Gallery

Each month 49 West features the work of a different artist. Meet the artist(s) the first Sunday of each month at a wine and cheese reception.

This Month's Featured Artist: Frederic Lafargue >>View Image He is currently refitting a sailboat and living in Annapolis, but the first time I spoke with Frederic Lafargue was in 2002 and he was sitting poised on a roof in Ramallah waiting for Israeli soldiers to move in to the city to battle Palestinian fighters. The situation was tense and explosive and it was immediately clear to me through our conversation that Frederic was a smart, intrepid reporter. More than this, when I finally looked at his pictures from the story I realized he also possessed great visual skill. He was able to capture in his images the anxiety and fear of a city under seige, and his portrayal of the people caught up and trapped in the chaos was emotionally riveting. After this, we worked together on a number of stories including the extremely frightening and bloody 2nd Battle of Falluja in Iraq in 2004. Under remarkably difficult and dangerous circumstances, Frederic produced a series of very poignant photographs that explored with great feeling the fragile and vulnerable aspects of human beings attempting to survive the maelstrom of violence and war. Frederic is no novice to scenarios of conflict and he is endowed with a tremendous and aesthetically potent ability to tell and render stories. He always effectively articulates the crucial face of human fortitude and dignity in his work no matter what the subject. In fact, Frederic is a person who celebrates life and who is capable of showing not only the pain of a difficult moment but also of finding the grace, humor, and beauty that are inherent parts of the human condition. With his deeply nuanced sensibility and a considerable and considerate aesthetic eye, Frederic has turned his attention to the streets, the people, and the atmosphere of Annapolis, one of the country's historic jewels. His pictures illuminate a city that spans generations and centuries of time creating a stage upon which naval cadets, buildings, weather, and all other animate and inanimate objects perform a passion play of life. There is rapturousness in the pictures, a CELEBRATION of moment, a chronicle of living with a deep sense of the past and a curious anticipation of future. Frederic's visual dialogue with the city of Annapolis is a poetic and musical ode to a a special place both in his heart and in the imaginations of those who can only dream of the place. -Jaime Wellford-Newsweek Opening reception is Sunday, April 4th from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM.