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Stefan Dolfen (Photographer)
From the original Side Gallery exhibition text, 1993:
This exhibition, made possible through the collaboration of Amber/Side and Fishburn Community Centre, marks the launch of a series of documentary photography works known as SIDESHOWS, organised by the Side Gallery. The portraits shown here by Stefan Dolfen are part of a long-term project, which addresses humanity, identity and relationships. Stefan describes his work as follows: I am looking for people who form and draw their identity and energy from close partnerships based on either love, conviction or solidarity. In my pictures I try to capture this very wide and almost irrational sense of belonging which I myself experience, and which is becoming increasingly important to me.
Stefan has come to Fishburn as a participant in the International Workshop of Documentary Photography to produce portraits of villagers and the love of their choice. He has set up a studio in the Community Centre and is inviting villagers to be photographed with their closest love. This work will be integrated into Stefan’s long-term project about relationships, and will be exhibited in the workshop exhibition in the Czech Republic in 1994, as well as here in County Durham.
Stefan Dolfen attempts in his work to address issues of social importance through the greater participation of those whom he photographs. Such collaborations with a wide range of individuals - family members, people living in institutions, people suffering from long-term disabilities - result in the creation of images, which reveal the dignity, strength and humanity in all of us, no matter what our surface appearances suggest.
Note: As well as the Fishburn Studio, Stefan Dolfen also established one at Side Gallery, photographing Newcastle upon Tyne’s Friday night Quayside drinkers. The exhibition includes studio portraits on the same theme from Germany