Natur&Foto no 4 2024
Is There Anybody Out There?
I'm sitting at home on the couch. Outside it is full winter, but inside it is nice and warm – in this last month of the year. It is dark. We live in southern Sweden, in the middle of the forest. The last house on a winding dirt road. The nearest neighbor is the dark forest. The cold outside makes the over 100-year-old house talk to me. It gives me both questions and answers. An old wooden house that lives, communicating in creaks caused by the cold outside and warmth inside. Strong wind and rain mixed with snow make the view outside the old windows look like an impressionist painting by Monet. Blurry and beautiful. I am reading an article in a Swedish photography magazine where the American photographer Minor White is mentioned. A well-known photographer to me - but I completely missed his picture series "The sound of one hand" which I am now reading about. I get curious. I search the title online and find a book with the picture series, and immediately order it. Once the book arrives in the mail and I get to see the pictures, I'm completely hooked. These are exactly the kind of pictures I'm drawn to. Pictures that ask questions. Pictures that move me. Images that are dark and difficult to interpret. Images that can be compared to abstract motifs from my artistic sources of inspiration such as Picasso, Munch and Miro. And at this moment my new project begins. In the middle of the cold, dark winter, White's photographs light up and make me start working hard with my new project "Is There Anybody Out There?" …
