Series of 68 statue portraits 2019
This series, which grow into a book, focuses on statues all across The Netherlands, depicting famous and lesser known historical figures. Whereas nowadays voices to tear down certain statues grow stronger, I want to shift the lens to emphasise the sculptural and architectural beauty of these art works, and the way they are situated in the landscape or cityscape. Photography is a perfect medium to ‘animate’ these fascinating objects.
Part of the series was re-edited as GIF animations and exhibited in IMA VISION as ”Refigured"
Long interview about this project on IMA online (Japanese only)
Refigured
I suppose that the light could be an essential element for creating a photographic image. The scope of photography has expanded; it doesn’t need a subject anymore. It is becoming a media which can exist without storage medium.
when the light hits a familiar object, it would often look different from what we know. It feels that when rays of light cross each other to light up an object, it gives us a key to a deeper understanding of it. This may be a hindsight truth but seems to happen quite often.
Unlike movies, moving pictures made of still images – in other words, animations – have the unrealistic feel to them, or shall I call it the realism characteristic to such images? Anyway, I feel that the beauty of animations is that they allow us to concentrate on the way an object appears to us.
