These magnificent swamps images by Karen Glaser were taken in Big Cypress National Preserve and its neighbor, Everglades National Park. I would never have guessed that such amazing wild and untouched landscapes could exist a bit over forty-five minutes out of Miami. They are like dreams capes, where you expect to find spirits and other unimaginable living creatures.
How does one express loneliness? How do we portray happiness? I think Salvi Danés has managed to capture a fragile identity in his series “Dark Isolation Tokyo”. Not only do we get a glimpse into the world of strangers, we get to see & feel their emotions, going about their every day life. Make sure to check out his other projects as well. Below you find the translation to go with this project.
There is an undeniable nucleus of initial interest, a question that from the occidental perspective is easy to think about. How does a society really live, each of its members, in a human and social organization which is apparently exemplary and with an enviable lifestyle? There is a feeling that despite enjoying all the comforts of a modern society, the inhabitants of Tokyo are far away from what was, conventionally, understood as an ideal of happiness.
It is easy to find oneself isolated and alone among a crowd. Enjoying the comfort and economic safety is not a synonym of complete personal realization. A frenetic pace of life can ruin any personal initiative and any possibility of creative life. That can have a bearing on the personality of the individual and in their way of living and understanding the world, in their capacity of interrelation, in their own satisfaction, in their happiness, in their interior life, etc. It looks like if these behaviors were a consequence of the clash that is produced between the preservation of their cultural essence, their history and their identity and on the other hand, a consequence of the incorporation of a new social model, which is highly technological and modern in all its aspects. From this clash, I could observe a dislocation of the people of this huge metropolis, as if they did not strike a balance between feeling isolated and alone among the crowd.
To sum up, the paradox was solved in a manifestation of solitude, in a great distress, in a sensation of individual frustration. Was that possible to detect and turn it into images? A difficulty due to the fact that I had to face up a perception of a completely subjective and debatable reality. It is not easy to show the breathlessness of the Taboo, the passive attitude or the nightmare of routine. They are the attitudes, the behaviors, the personality, an introspective vision of difficult capture for its subtle and untactile quality. Thus, the photographic and plastic translation of this characterological and sociological singularity, which is the synthesis between the contemplation of life and the convulsion that the new social models impose compulsorily.
I came across Kim Boske’s images a while ago in the foam magazine and was instantly drawn to her images. They appeared to be part of a dream, history in fast forward, time and space made visible. These images are from her series “I go walking in your landscape”. About her work Kim says:
My work can be described as a body of research in which different moments in time and space run together in a field that seems to embody a determination of time to present proof of it’s discrete, unique moments. I am fascinated by the system of time and space. I see the Time system as a structure that is made up of smaller, differentiated structures, a collection of all sorts of connected influences from the past and the present. In my work i try to capture this illusive reality by exploring the mutability of things. My images reveal phenomena that are impossible to see or witness with the naked eye. I view my work as constructions in which layers upon layers of ideas take on a meaning of their own. As well as my source of inspiration, the Time system is also my apparatus to show this rich, layered world. This manifests itself in my work in many ways. In “I go walking in your landscape”, I investigates how physical movement in time and space continually changes our perspective on the world. By letting go of the individual perspective and bringing together multiple perspectives in one image, a new layered reality comes into existence.
A while ago, Heiko Krause sent me excerpts of his work “russemblage” on the remains in former Soviet military installations in East Germany. I am always fascinated what is left behind and then again how orderly some rooms are. Somehow history seems to be erased, and again, some traces reveal a past, a hidden one, hurriedly packed up and left behind, but there is always something remaining.
How do you edit a series into five images? What if I were to show you the “wrong” images and you never hop over to the artists site, just by the choices I made? It can be hard to reduce a work to such a small number, and while I always try to show the essence of the project, I am also drawn to how the images appear together, what story they tell, how the colors relate etc. What might look interesting to me, does not necessarily mean, you will get excited. If you were to give twenty bloggers/publishers/artists/editors etc the same work, I imagine everyone will have a different edit, a varied sequencing and hence the story will be read twenty times differently, or with a slight variation and all of this with the same images. I find this rather interesting, but which of those twenty sequences will be closest to the artists intention, and which will be most appreciated by the viewer due to the storytelling? For today I had in mind to show you five here and five different ones on facebook, but after trying this idea, I came to the conclusion that it didnt really work as Laurent Champoussin’s images scroll horizontal and here vertical. So if I were to use a bigger and smaller image it would look messy, but looks great on Laurent’s site.
The other day I discovered Susan Lipper’ “Off Route 80″ and was immediately drawn to her lush landscapes. Every day I/we go for a big walk up the mountain with our dogs, which I absolutely treasure. It is hard work, as it starts with a big steep hill, but that in itself allows my mind to wander… One footstep at a time and away from the computer or camera. More often than not, I come back with more energy, vibrant ideas, a solution for a problem and a clearer perspective on what is really important.
“Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.” Stephen Wright
