Innholdsfortegnelse for #5 2023 i Artdoc Photography Magazine

Note of the Editors The beauty of natural landscapes has always been seen and captured by painters and photographers. - The Artdoc Team Nature possesses an innate and profound healing power. The serene rustle of leaves in a forest, the gentle lapping of waves along a shore, and the vibrant hues of wildflowers can soothe the human soul. The beauty of natural landscapes has always been seen and captured by painters and photographers. In this issue of Artdoc Magazine, we highlight gifted artists who show their specific relation to the healing powers of nature. They made images that not only depict natural landscapes but also enter into the spiritual energy of nature. The Artdoc exhibition Healing Nature is a superb collection of images reflecting the photo artists’ personal encounters. But…

For some time, rock and ice formations have fascinated photographers like Aaron Siskind and Minor White. But half a century and more after their major contributions, I find that the compositions I discover in these natural forms draw on an image inventory that goes beyond simple abstraction and commonplace figuration: I draw from 20th Century late Modernist art—Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism—as well as scientific, popular, and commercial imagery in my search for provocative images in these natural media. The abstractions I photograph have to be powerful enough to stand together with the most imaginative sculptures, ceramic and otherwise. The ones that suggest figuration extend beyond traditional subjects of pareidolia (the perception of recognisable figures in natural formations, e.g. the Man in the Moon) to include, among other things, imaginary creatures,…

The garden is a place set up by the will and hand of a man who is not fully aware of how it can evolve. He can effectively define himself as a designer who can rely on hypothetical predictions suggested by his knowledge and experience, showing how this space would be articulated within its boundaries over time. Amid this “controlled” unawareness, the designer never stops learning from the natural genius; the garden becomes an offeror of notions about its constitution and its actions through the relationships between different species and the relationships that inevitably arise between itself and the evolving plant work. My work in the Urbino Botanical Garden has evolved by examining, day by day, how this system works in every specific component, from the scientific and purely practical…

Trees teach us about belonging; they remind us that life doesn’t need permission to prevail. Trees are sanctuaries. If we listen closely, we can learn the ancient law of life. They are seen as powerful symbols of growth, decay and resurrection. They have played a prominent role in many folktales and legends and have been given deep and sacred meanings. But a tree’s longevity can lull us into a false sense of immortality. It is this very impermanence that I long to understand through my photographic explorations. There is an ineffable natural beauty, too great to be expressed or described in words. www.ellenjantzen.com In this series, I use imagery to convey my feelings about the state of nature, the nature of trees, and how to express their connection to past,…

Jennifer Graham The valleys between the mountains of the Malot - part of the Drakensburg range stretching from the Free State in South Africa to the Highlands of Lesotho - during the winter months, while seemingly unremarkable in the shadows, are almost alchemically transformed into troughs of silver and gold as the morning rays fall upon them. Juxtaposed against the dark and austere mountainsides, this magical display of light, illuminating bare branches, grasses, and reeds, is especially apparent and magical. I took this series of photographers intending to capture this dance between light and shadow. It is also a sacred place that calls on you to be fully present and still whilst in it. I took the name for this series of images from a Barry Lopez quote: “I sensed…

Discover the therapeutic power of nature through the vision of our presented photographers in our online exhibition Healing Nature. They showcase their fascinating images that capture the essence of nature. They show a unique perspective on how nature heals, inspires, and renews. These visual artists display the healing magic of nature through photography. Explore the therapeutic qualities of our natural world, be it serene landscapes, vibrant flora, or the subtle beauty of wildlife. In this online exhibition, we celebrate nature’s soothing and revitalising impact. Visit the online exhibition…

Wounds that emerge from body and soul, asking to be looked at, welcomed, touched in their sacredness. From a deep laceration begins the inner journey of the human being, laid bare before his wildest and most primitive nature. There are resources from which man draws, one of which is the uncontrollable energy of the natural environment, so powerful and majestic that it guides the path of rebirth and metamorphosis. There are no longer boundaries but new mental and physical spaces capable of opening the doors of the unconscious. They are places suspended between reality and dreams, making visible the invisible within each of us. The only thing we can do is to ask nature and its mystery to give us back what we are. More information…

Photography has always accompanied and enriched my life and my work. During the pandemic lockdown, it also became my main outlet, allowing me not to suffer the “block” but to simultaneously transform it into a creative and experimental stimulus. In this period, I experimented with the photographic technique of visible fluorescence induced by ultraviolet radiation (UVIVF), which captures the fluorescence of flowers and plants hit by UV light, making visible what is generally not visible to the naked eye. The subjects photographed in this way convey a chromatic world and energy not detected by our eyes but which only some animals (like bees, for example) can perceive. A new, surprising, and parallel reality which, starting from the beauty of nature, enhances its chromatic effects with a “new light” without distorting…

“Holding a camera in front of your face or on your chest, framing, pressing the shutter release, are ways of encountering oneself and the world,” said psychoanalyst Serge Tisseron in The Mystery of the Lucid Camera. The encounter Tisseron speaks of is what I seek to achieve in my photographic practice. An encounter that starts from a contemplative attitude of the world around me, more specifically of the ordinary, everyday world, cultivating a state of dazzlement before the objects, spaces and scenes presented, thus opening the way to wonder, to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. Vegetable motifs, flowers, plants, and trees have become my work’s central theme in recent years and walking through parks, gardens, and natural environments is the means. Walking as an aesthetic experience and construction of…

Christine Simpson The earth is our home, and through my art, I try to express an appreciation of our wonderful living planet. Everything we need as human beings in order to survive has been provided for us by our Natural World. We are part of the Earth rather than separate from it. Our Ecosystem and the smaller systems within are linked through cycles that form the web of life. The cycles must remain unbroken to prevent the unravelling of the threads that hold it together. Through my images, I explore beauty and balance, aspects of our natural world interwoven, interdependent and connected, and the sacredness of all life. I trust in the caring nature of our Planet and the abundance she has created for us. Ultimately, I want to communicate…

Jaume Llorens i Bach My work results from moments of silence observing nature and the surrounding landscape. An intimate and contemplative approach to celebrate its beauty or the magic it gives us. An attempt to convey the emotional or aesthetic impact that this contact provokes, or sometimes to reflect more or less explicitly my emotional landscape. I feel comfortable with simple, sometimes minimal images that suggest rather than explain. I am infinitely happy when someone recognises traces of poetry in my photographs. About Jaume Llorens i Bach was born in 1966 in Porqueres (Catalonia). He has been fond of photography since his teens. In 2014, he debuted in a group exhibition. Noteworthy exhibitions include the LensCulture group exhibition at PhotoLondon 2023, a solo show at Fundació Valvi (Girona, 2022), a…