They sit side by side – yet sometimes seem worlds apart. In 'Archipelago', Yolanda Del Amo transforms human relationships into composed photographic stages. Gazes fail to meet, bodies share the same space yet remain at a distance. Intimacy and alienation, belonging and autonomy exist simultaneously.
The title says it all: the photographer sees relationships as an archipelago of emotional islands – separate, fragile, yet connected by invisible structures. Working in the tradition of tableau photography, the New York-based artist creates narratively dense visual spaces reminiscent of tableaux vivants or film stills. Nothing seems accidental: posture, gaze, gesture, color and the positioning of figures within the space all follow a subtle choreography.
And it is precisely this control that creates tension. The images feel quiet, almost suspended in time – yet at the same time emotionally charged. Who belongs to whom? Who is seeking closeness, and who is withdrawing? What has just happened, and what might happen next?
'Archipelago' explores the contradictions of human relationships across geographical, generational and gender boundaries. Del Amo is interested in the paradoxical coexistence of two fundamental needs: the desire for intimacy and belonging – and the equally powerful desire for autonomy.
Her visual worlds emerge from real encounters. Del Amo works primarily with friends and family members, yet through staging she transforms these personal constellations into open-ended narratives. Reality and fiction begin to overlap.
From 'Islands in the Sea of Life' by Vicki Goldberg: 'Then she rearranged people, dictating where they sat or stood as well as their postures and positions. (Having taken many a dance lesson, she was particularly precise about poses, gestures, and carriage.) She told her subjects where to look and what to think about. These people became actors for a mere moment – a moment that will most likely last beyond a lifetime, in a photographic theater set arranged by a photographer who is the playwright, director, and stage manager.'
Color takes on a central emotional function throughout the series, while a persistent, almost tangible silence becomes a defining presence. Despite the static nature of the images, there remains a sense of openness and the possibility of change. As Jean Dykstra observes in her text 'Alone Together': 'As in the theater, roles can change, characters can evolve, silences can be broken, and that prospect is in these photographs, too.'
Yolanda del Amo (b. 1967, Madrid) is a New York-based photographic artist. Her award-winning work has been exhibited internationally and is represented in major collections. She has received grants and support from institutions including the Jerome Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts and the Spanish Ministry of Culture.
Vicki Goldberg (1936–2025) was an American photography critic, author and photo historian. She wrote extensively about photography and its social and cultural contexts, including for The New York Times, American Photo and Vanity Fair.
Jean Dykstra is a photography critic and former editor of photograph magazine. Her writing has appeared in The New York Review of Books, The Brooklyn Rail and Art in America, as well as in numerous exhibition catalogues and monographs.
Yolanda del Amo – Archipelago
Kehrer Verlag, clothbound
128 pages, 47 color illustrations
ISBN 978-3-96900-228-5
Texts: Jean Dykstra, Vicki Goldberg
Design: Hannah Feldmeier
