THE WAY OF WATER
The photographs and paintings in THE WAY OF WATER, from the early 1990s to this day, also tell my artist´s story.
There is no photomanipulation in the photographs.
THE CLOUD ARCHIVES
I began to photograph the sky at the same time each day, and realized that half of the world we see is constantly changing. The clouds, our travel companions, are like a stream of consciousness above us, populated with archetypal figures. For more than two decades I have documented those unique moments when a cloud suddenly becomes personified.
THE RAIN DIARIES
Since the early nineties I have documented time also by collecting summer rains. When I had to avoid being in the sun, I learnt the beauty of rainy days, and how each rain is unique. The rain patterns on the concrete squares in the garden soon disappeared, but were preserved in my painted rain squares: I could show how rain touches. Usually we see only the result, how plants start to grow. Symbolically: what makes our minds grow sweet or thorny flowers?
REAL ILLUSIONS
I had my atelier outdoors during the 1990s winters, because, being allergic, I could not use paints and papers in of doors. The experience made me think of different orders in nature, and why we recognize something as true. The scenery I painted was an illusion, but concrete processes happened in it. Real snowflakes became stars in the blue paint universe. The ice gardens and the living plants had similar fractal forms. A snowflake began to symbolize life´s order to me.
Before the ice paintings melted away, I traveled in them with my camera, finding collective deep seas and inner space planets, a realm of emotions full of colour, light, space, movement, form. Combining painting and photography had created something new. Tacit knowledge about how to work with nature began to accumulate.
HERE FAR AWAY
Ice became a door to new fantasy worlds, where, however, our cultural narratives, common myths and stories showed the way. I used film, natural light, reflections. Because there is no photomanipulation, and the compositions are original, these photographs also document those mysterious moments of seeing, when my nonconscious mind made the decisions. I may have believed that I had photographed impressive light and dark surfaces, but when the film was developed, I saw a bird spread its wings. – Each winter has given a new, unique series of ice photographs. Could climate change make them also historical documents?
POWERLIGHT
We humans need plants to survive, but we need them also as symbols, to understand ourselves: people, too, grow, flourish and wither. Summer rains help flowers grow, and flowers as symbols can tell what happens when our minds are nourished. There is an abundance of colours, forms and sense of movement in flowers, but there is also the light: these powerflowers glow their own light.
PAINTING WITH THE CAMERA
Photography and painting meet in my new series. These photographs discuss with the history of art and with our collective stories. The camera has been my brush, my movements created painter´s style. As a rule there is no photomanipulation, and the composition is original.
BLOOMING LIGHT
Tulips, art history´s iconic flowers become abstract visual music, with references to the many styles of modern art. Colours can also smell and taste, and with movement added, these stylistic experiments interpret emotions and sentiments.
BURNING LIGHT
Decembers are enchanted: no other month has both more darkness and more light. There may even be both dark and light darkness, and light and dark light. The December photos, taken each year, offer fantastic surrealism, magical light patterns and flashes of unknown energy.