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Robert Mapplethorpe’s work is singular within the history of photography. He has opened up the medium to vastly new subjects and territories, while at the same time creating some of the most iconic and classical images in photography. Mapplethorpe almost entirely dedicated his career to photography and was a major driving force in elevating photography to the same status as the classical art forms of sculpture or painting. He was a trailblazer, a perfectionist, and in his approach to lighting and composition, a classicist. Mapplethorpe’s portraits, nudes and flowers express the fundamental emotional states of our human existence, from love to hatred and joy to pain, seen through an unapologetic homosexual lens. The classical materials of marble and paint to describe the human form are replaced in his photos by skin and leather 

For two performances at the Peralada Festival and the Teatro Real, Mapplethorpe’s images will form the visual backdrop to concert performances of Rufus Wainwright’s opera, Hadrian. At first glance, the world of opera, the world of Rufus Wainwright’s Hadrian and the world of Mapplethorpe’s photography seem ages and aesthetics apart. But upon closer look, the crossroads between them, the connections of their themes, the subversion of classical forms through injection of a different form of sexuality, become evident. Wainwright’s Hadrian reshuffles the traditional love triangle of opera where the tenor loves the soprano and the baritone tries to prevent it. In Hadrian, the baritone loves the tenor and the soprano tries to prevent it. The rest of the form of the opera follows the form of the Grand Opera with its four acts, a large dance number in act 2, the great love duet in act 3 and the tragic death of the hero in act 4, chorus, ensemble scenes and arias. All great operas are about great love stories, from Carmen and Jose to Tristan and Isolde. Hadrian is no different. 

Neither Mapplethorpe nor Wainwright try to hide in any shape or form, the homosexuality from their work. They both approach it head on, without shame, without reservation, and therefore upon deeper inspection, their work goes way beyond the controversy it might stir at the surface towards the core of what brings humans together. 

The images on display in this outdoor exhibition are a selection of the ones that were chosen to accompany the live performances. The photographs of people correspond with the main characters in the opera. In this setting, each image of a person is juxtaposed with a flower image. Mapplethorpe’s flowers have anthropomorphic qualities. Flower stems embrace each other like lovers, they tilt their head towards each other like admirers yearning to be united, or they get hurt and injured like people facing severe tragedies. 

Looking at the drama that lies in Mapplethorpe’s pictures of people and flowers, it is obvious how subtly and powerfully they are able to accompany the story of an emperor who could have everything, just not the one thing he really desired. An emperor who realized that his only legacy lied in the fact that he loved. Once he did, he was ready to die. 

Mapplethorpe said that when he was behind the camera he forgot that he existed. Love is forgetting the pain of existence. 

Text by Jörn Weisbrodt