30 Comments
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Todd Haughton's avatar

These are lovely, Manuela! I’ve always enjoyed seeing small photos displayed in large mats and frames in a gallery setting. As you said, it invites the viewer to come closer and spend time really studying the image. Your diptych layouts with text are wonderfully creative—I especially loved, ‘I still made a short detour to seek out a flower.’

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Manuela Thames's avatar

Thank you so much, Todd! The one you mentioned is my favorite as well. :)

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Shital Morjaria (she/her)'s avatar

Love this Manuela

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Manuela Thames's avatar

Thank you, Shital!

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Susanne Helmert's avatar

Beautiful, Manuela!

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Manuela Thames's avatar

Thank you, Susanne!

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Mahdi Meshkatee's avatar

Hey Manuela,

The whole piece is close to my heart. I, too, sometimes have this almost irrepressible urge to kneel down, perhaps to close myself to the world and drown in sorrow.

Peace🕊️

Mahdi

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Manuela Thames's avatar

Thank you so much for your words!

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Fernando Coelho's avatar

Beautiful!

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Manuela Thames's avatar

Thank you!

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Rea de Miranda's avatar

This is a masterwork of creative art! Gorgeous, Manuela.

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Manuela Thames's avatar

Thank you so, so much! So kind of you to say.

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Susan's avatar

I love the images with text Manuela. So beautiful! And I love all the white space! I’ve ordered Etty Hillesum’s book. Thanks for the recommendation.

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Manuela Thames's avatar

Thank you so much, Susan!

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Benjamin Fargen's avatar

Love this! 🖤📷📖

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Manuela Thames's avatar

Thank you kindly!

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Michael Carnell's avatar

Love your work. And thank you for introducing us to Etty Hillesum. I am looking up her book now. This has immediately gone to the top of my must-read list.

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Manuela Thames's avatar

Thank you so very much! Let me know what you think. To me it’s a book that I will keep forever and come back to over and over again. It is beautiful!!

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Martin Hughes's avatar

The breath in between.

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Manuela Thames's avatar

Exactly!

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Marcel Borgstijn's avatar

Love it, Manuela. These small images do work perfectly combined with the texts.

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Manuela Thames's avatar

Thank you so much!

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Juliette's avatar

There's a quality to these, Manuela. I haven't seen this before (the quality, I mean). I sense a shift in your work, which has a new beauty about it!

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Manuela Thames's avatar

Thank you! And interesting observation, Juliette. The reason it is interesting to me is because I mostly used images I took years ago. Oh, I wish we could sit down right now and talk about art, life and the world! Sending you love!

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Juliette's avatar

Hi Manuela, what I meant by that is the images you selected (even though from the past) reflect a shift in your work and to me, it's not about what you shot in the past but what you SEE about those images that prompted you to use them for this post. Lately, I see my entire collection as one big story of my evolution in seeing. When I select something from my past, I no longer see it as "past" but as something that calls to me now that is still alive. Not sure if that makes sense but that's what I was referring to :). Yes, one day I have a feeling we'll meet and have so much to say!

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Manuela Thames's avatar

I totally get that. I think that is exactly why I love working with images that are older.

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Anne Silver Mondinot's avatar

So beautifully conceived and put together. I'm also drawn to white space and smaller, more intimate ways of presenting work.

Seeking out flowers, no matter how long the detour, is one of my favorite activities. :))

There's so much tenderness in everything you share. Big hugs to you, friend.

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Conny Borgelioen's avatar

I somehow missed this post, but I'm glad to see it now. Your word and image combination is so beautiful and evocative. I'm also working on some things that I will share over the summer. You have really inspired me!

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Dan Jandl's avatar

Beautiful!

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Lin Gregory's avatar

These are beautiful Manuela – a really creative way of presenting the image...I love to see images shown with large mats, they draw us in to really see the image. I particularly like that last one “there will always be a small patch of sky above”…so haunting given the writers life.

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