More than thirty years ago I got my first camera as a birthday present from my father. It was a Cannon Snappy S. I was empowered.
Pappa had an Olympus OM1 which was the 35mm camera which I used during my studies to shoot black and white images. This taught me much . Exposure, pushing the film speed, F-stops and tweaks in the darkroom. Some of the darkroom adventures were quite experimental, using gelatine filters, solarization, shadows and many more. I loved it!
The OM1 is lying in the cupboard, resting. Digital is my preferred medium now. The ease of pressing the button and seeing the results, combined with digital darkroom, is great! Not only the DSLR shots with my E-M5 but also those images taken with my phone are part of documenting the passage of time and thoughts from a personal perspective.
Photography has been part of my oeuvre for quite some time. Not that I have exhibited my images much… that is in the pipeline. Photography is the tool with which I gain perspective on the sculptures I make. Often the process of sculpting absorbs you and one can’t distinguish the forest for the trees. Through the lens of the camera I gain a certain distance, a clearer perspective of my work. Taking pictures of the work clears the clutter and shows me the magic.
Apart from documenting my work, the camera also becomes an extension of my practice. Through the viewfinder I explore moments, many of which are experimental and some more focused.
Connect / Disconnect is a current theme I am exploring. These are not necessarily of work I have made but also consist of specific scenes I associate with the theme. A road or bridge connects two points but a broken road or bridge disconnects this route.
Connect / Disconnect also deals with our modern lifestyles such as social media and the consumption of secondhand information. Instead of convoluted visual bombardment as our daily lives have become these images seek to be metaphors for these connected or disconnected emotions. The images are intentionally ambiguous which leaves the stories they tell open to your personal interpretation.
Everything is connected yet sometimes we feel the need to just disconnect…
