One Triiibe, One Vision - Hasselblad Spotlight

When National Geographic photographer Cary Wolinsky met up with seasoned performance artists Alicia, Kelly and Sara Casilio the result was TRIIIBE, a collection of inspired collaborative work. Throughout a career that saw him work actively for National Geographic for just shy of 35 years Cary Wolinsky earned himself a reputation for shooting pictures that went way beyond conventional reportage. As his projects became more conceptual, he began creating images that required pre-visualisation and orchestration. His skill at realising these concepts was to be put to a different use once he retired from National Geographic in 2005. One day he was attending a retirement party being held in honour of George Greenamyer, a public sculptor who worked at the Massachusetts College of Art, and he was struck by the extraordinary contribution of two of the attendees. "George is bearded, a bit portly, balding a little and always wears dungarees," says Cary. "Two of the Casilio sisters, who are triplets, arrived dressed exactly as George. I was struck by this and wanted to find out more about them, and when I learned that all three of them were guerrilla performance artists I asked them if they would like to try working on some photographs together. "We discovered that although we could film their street performances effectively, the same work did not translate into a dramatic still photograph. So together we hit the drawing board and began creating ideas that became 'performances' designed specifically for the camera, effectively a collision of performance and photography." Together with other collaborators 'TRIIIBE' was formed, and the team worked on a series of images that explored the idea of identity. The decision was made early on to produce prints that were colossal in size, and it became clear to Cary that his regular 35mm-style DSLRs were not going to be able to produce files that could stand enlargements up to five metres wide. "After testing several cameras for our projects we choose to use a Hasselblad for our TRIIIBE photographs because of the extraordinary resolution and colour depth we are able to achieve when making these large prints," says Cary. "I was able to buy a second hand H3DII-31 and 80mm lens from someone who had only ever shot around 100 frames with it and the Hasselblad technical team enthusiastically helped us with problem solving when deadline pressures were looming. The results were fantastic, and even when you walk right up to the prints you can't believe the quality". A recent project undertaken by TRIIIBE saw them asked to put on an exhibition at the 808 Gallery in Boston, an 11,000 square foot venue run by Boston University that formally had been a Cadillac showroom. Huge windows faced out onto the street, and it gave TRIIIBE the opportunity to think big, and they rose to the challenge by creating a series of seven triptychs entitled 'In Search of Eden: A Work in Progress.' Seen in the flesh they were remarkable pieces that dominated the space. Set up like altarpieces, the triptychs had the feel of medieval artworks, deliberately echoing the religious imagery of the time but bringing things up to date with modern intrusions such as computer cables and fast food containers. The show was a sensation and led to TRIIIBE being asked to exhibit their work at the Dodge Gallery in New York, where their images caught the imagination of private collectors. Following their success there the group is now looking to exhibit in Europe and Asia. original post: http://www.hasselbladbulletin.com/uk/oct-2011/spotlight/triiibe.aspx