It had begun to snow again ... Winter is the night-time of the year, at least in northern Europe where I am living for the last few years. The darkness grows, the cold surrounds me, and the world I once knew sinks from light to shadow. But this privation of light present also the opportunity to reflect, revision and share what I have, including memories, images, and possibly some stories. Now I have some time for reading and writing ... I find myself compelled to light the fire, seat down at my table, and open my books and notes ...
TRAVEL IS FATE or even a kind of REVELATION! As the years pass travels are not anymore about the destination, but rather, about the journey. You want to expand your horizons, reach deeper levels of meaning in your life and find out more about who you are, and decode the pattern of your behavior. The same is true also about art or in my case photography. Photography is not about the depiction of reality but an expression of moods, emotions, and subconscious leitmotivs:
Photography is accordingly the complex mental process of reflecting/projecting the internal in what is external is comparable to the fusion of the optical effects of transparency, reflection and refraction on a mirror or a window.
Travel then could be conceived as a kind of border where Imagination confronts to some kind of "Reality". The scope of the travel (imagination, creative process) is then to compile visual narratives with the help of symbolic representations (metaphorical symbols or archetypes ) ...
The past is a quarry of possibilities to design your life trajectory.
An unexpected journey to Rhodos end of June ... Rhodos is a recurring destination since my youth. All those journeys created a kind of mental canvas where my emotions, thoughts states of mind, struggles for identity have found a place ...
The medieval town of Rhodes, this fossil of time, has become for me an archetype of history. The purpose of this journey, therefore, was the intention to investigate by means of analog photography and motion pictures the subject matters of time, personal identity, memory, and history.
Every time the expectation from a new journey was a personal transformation. A change of personal habits towards a more authentic self, a more successful and happier way of life.
On Sunday 27. June the Journey begins. From Hamburg, over Berlin to Rhodos. For two weeks we explored the Island, its history, and life. Back to Hamburg with a lot of FRAMES, MEMORIES, TIMELINES and possible STORIES. I started to compile the visual material in preliminary TIMELINES. I divided the material into 13 categories: THE WALLS, THE OLD CITY (LABYRINTH), ZOE (THE OTHER), HOSPITAL / ARCHAEOLOGY, THE OTTOMAN CEMETERY, STEGNA BEACH, 7 SPRINGS, ELEOUSA, VILLA DE VECHI, ST. MARCO COLONY, THE OLD SILK FACTORY, PLATANIA / LOST MEMORIES, LINDOS.
Some of those categories are much more important than others but together they specify the spectrum of the visual motives. My goal is to develop those themes (motives) and compile them into incoherent compositions (stories).
Almost every journey touches deep layers of the subconscious. Therefore an important aspect of the journey is to reveal the hidden, to make the invisible visible. To transfer or translate past experiences, repressed memories, dissociations, or detachments to a visual context, say a photo series or a movie is not an easy task at all. But travel and visual art could fulfill such a purpose: to unwind the thread of memory and life.
RHODOS21 - THE JOURNEY / MOTION PICTURES
Using my BMPCC4k Cinema Camera I made a series of very short films about the various explorations/discoveries of the journey. They constitute the first experimental attempt to combine motion pictures into my process. View more on my youtube channel: PhotoVisionProject
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