For those of you who don’t know her, Alex Prager is a real talent. After receiving the Foam Paul Huf Award in 2012, the photographer and director presents her second exhibition at the Foam in Amsterdam, entitled Silver Lake Drive. The retrospective covers for the first time her entire career, both photographic and cinematographic.

Born in Los Angeles, Alex was able to translate and make her own the typical aesthetics of Hollywood iconography, which uses reality and fiction at will, realizing what could be called the Truman Show of photography. And it is precisely in fiction that the greatest truths are hidden, the emotions of his characters bring out their fragility and their weaknesses.

Silver Lake Drive represents the emancipation of the gaze, allows you to get away from the scenes and observe the protagonists with detachment. A tribute to color is certainly what the artist does to William Eggleston, another reference is to Alfred Hitchcock‘s The Birds, which she re-proposes with her character Eve from The Big Valley, in 2008. I would also add that some scenes seem to be taken from the video Imitation of Life by R.E.M., shot in Los Angeles by Garth Jennings.

Her photographs generally have a woman as the protagonist, but it is not uncommon to find images where more than two hundred people appear. The impressive thing is that each photo is created in an accurate and detailed, almost obsessive way, from makeup to facial expressions. The end result is surprising, that’s why this exhibition is a must!

It will be possible to visit the Silver Lake Drive until September 4th.