Sacha-thesis outline

"How did you make this photograph?" Is the question I'm going to ask myself this year.

• personal diary to describe experiences while photographing
• method description of my work
• a fictive diary of constructed landscapes?
• studies on the Antrhopocene

1st draft: A 100 views on a mountain

Almost a quarter of our Earth’s landmass can be considered mountainous. In this research I’m collecting a 100 different views on a mountain from the human perspective. We as humans, have a rich history with mountains. We look at them, we enjoy them, we are afraid of them, we walk on them, we want to be on top of them, we write about them, we paint them, we take pictures of them, we name them, we carve them out, we want to defy them and so on. I’m going to collect views from people with different backgrounds and experiences with mountains. This may turn into an interview with the person in question or researching books, articles and films.

Peoples views: Local, Sherpa, Climber, Skier, Snowboarder, Rescuer, Paraglider, Pilot, Geologist, Philosopher, Snow scraper, Artist, Photographer, Filmmaker, Geographer, Anthropologist, Park ranger, Delivery man, Tourist, Writer, Poet, Astronaut, Native American, Buddhist, Monk, Maya, Aboriginals.

References:

Aldo Leopold: Think like a mountain

Robert Mcfarlane: a lot of books

Vilem Flusser: NATURAL: MIND

2nd draft: The making of mountains

In this research project I’m making a method description of my work. Describing all steps and experiences within the making process, then the selection process and eventually the presentation process. This will help me reflecting on why I’m taking the steps that I take. It will also give more depth and inside into the experiences I have while taking my photographs.

References:

Ansel Adams: Examples: the making of 40 photographs

Introduction

Before I came to Piet Zwart Institute I had a huge interest in how we, as humans, interact with the landscapes around us. I've been researching this relationship in my work for a long time now and themes as romanticism, escapism and the sublime are at the core of making it.

About ten years ago, I made a shift in the media I used. While studying in the painting department of my Bachelor's, I started using photography. This medium

I've been attracted to remote and vast landscapes, they also urge me to manipulate them.

By putting a person and/or object in the landscape, it starts to feel alienating. I want to play with nature as we observe it when we, for example, go for a walk in the forest. This way I show that our recognizable environments can be transformed into a space for mysterious dreams. My goal is to show the power of the landscape by adding an aberrant object or person, so that a dream can be generated.

I always try to find a contrast as well as an agreement with the objects and the landscape. Sometimes I want to emphasize the playfulness or turn the human figure into some divine creature that has floating objects around itself. Human beings are predominant on this planet, but at the same time we are just little creatures in this massive environment.