Feral Portraits

J.A. Hagar / printed in Provincetown Magazine 8/96

...
In many photographs the face is obscured or the gaze downcast, but the gelatin silver prints are so strong and carry such dignity that they belie the shame that may be implied by the hidden face. Instead they have a quiet grace and speak more about the courage of claiming one's terrain, soul mates and history. This is especially true of Yamrus' most recent work. It moves into relationships between two figures and into revelation as a face emerges strongly. In Tracey - Pond, a transitional piece for Yamrus, a full faces surfaces. "The lens of my camera started to pull towards the faces without my conscious intent and I needed to follow it," he says. In this image a figure with an androgynous face and strong shoulders - drinking from or expiring into a pool of water - dominates the frame. Thus it is a powerful yet surrendered presence; the tone of the tableau is one of acceptance. And though the face is fully revealed there is still ambiguity and anonymity in the shaved head, and powerful smooth shoulders, and even in the gender-less name, Tracey. The photograph transcends gay issues or gender issues, and becomes more about our human plight and tenuous existence on the planet. The dunes are transformed from a place of chance meeting into a metaphor for the fleetingness of the human connection - a frontier through which Yamrus traipses with his camera, providing through its lens his own instinctive guidance.

To read the complete article by J. A. Hagar, please download the pdf by clicking here.

J.A. Hagar
@1996 Provincetown Magazine

To read additional essays on the Provincetown Photographs you may download the following pdfs:

Bodies, Rest and Motion by Steven Jenkins

No Less Glamorous by Greg Campora

Beat Poetry by Jennifer Smith as it appeared in (not only) blue

The Provincetown Photographs by Edward Osowski