Time Refurbished
(Ongoing)
It all started with an old early-century divan rescued from a dumpy. I felt heartbroken and embarrassed when we were about to throw it away, as there was no way to save it. But as I felt so bad, we carried it into my tiny studio, and I started photographing its perishable beauty. I began to combine with it living things — to give a new enduring form to its life. Little by little, the divan became a fascinating object with numerous stories to tell. I show images from the more extensive ongoing series where the present meets the past. The series of old items combined with fauna and flora will continue growing.
Our behavior towards nature has changed. Everything revolves around climate warming and fear. Our traces are all over. It is vital to emphasize the environment, not just as a beautiful passive distant thing in the background but as a living, breathing, valuable entity we must acknowledge and protect. It's essential to show that nature is part of humanity. We have destroyed and left it ruined with our artificial goals. That's why my nature grows indoors, closer to where we live. I sometimes use spring-blooming branches because they symbolize rebirth and hope.
Forgotten objects get a new life when they encounter something alive. I emphasize it with chiaroscuro-type lightning because I want to explore the atmosphere that existed hundreds of years ago through light and shadow. When the old masters had to paint quickly not to spoil the still-life elements, there is still something similar in photography. I have to rapidly catch flowering branches and moving animals and work on layers like painters. The process emphasizes that everything is staged yet momentary.
Memento mori, we all must die. But even if we must die, we continue living if someone remembers us and brings our legacy back to light. If our heritage meets something contemporary, we get an extension. If we cherish the living environment, humankind receives an extension. Our manufactured transient objects will have a beginning and end, but nature will always grow back if it has a possibility. I'm exploring unique items with organic things and trying to balance something artificial and natural, sempiternal and contemporary. Can we save something vital and beautiful, something we might take for granted and is likely dying? Can photography help with that?
Work in progress, started in 2021.
A few images from this series was exhibited at the 15th Anniversary Displays at Der Greif from 16th to 18th June at Pinakothek der Moderne in Münich, Germany.