subconciousgrams

We are born from destruction. The amniotic sac that keeps us safe for nine months in our mother’s belly is ruptured to begin the process of birth. The egg needs to crack before the bird can get out, the larvae is destroyed to create a butterfly, the sperm breaks into the egg to start the process of creation. In Hindu mythology Shiva is both the God of creation and destruction, for the latter is fundamental to reconstruct, to re-invent. We die a thousand times in our lives, different versions of us are born as we create new ones.
Destruction is a fundamental part of growth, and every transformation requires a death of sorts. So, let yourself die as many times as you believe is necessary, observe how nature is constantly recreating itself, and how we live a life of cycles. Trust. Every destruction will create something new.
Like the moon disappears every month from our vision, a seeming death, let yourself be reborn over and over again.
This life is a dance between creation and destruction. It starts in the womb.
All things look more perfect after they break.
What did it feel inside your mother’s stomach?
In the first nine months of our life we live in the darkness, in the warmth and in pure trust, we receive food without asking for it, we are cradled and completely dependent on another. In the womb, a life cycle of dependence happens
The day we are born is the first day we start dying.

For this project I closed my eyes, meditated onto a feeling and drew automatic lines on a black sheet with a white pencil. I would then cut on top of the lines and put the sheet under the enlarger in the darkroom so that the light would pass through and expose the photographic paper underneath. I would repeat this process for multiple times creating new shapes from the destruction of the paper.
The black paper works as the archetype that changes depending on external circumstances but yet mantains its own essence. The photogram is the result of the experience ( light )  passing through an archetype ( the black paper )