The spirit of Things
they cast spells they bring out
the darkness from within
nothing is what
it seems’
I attended an artist residency near Riga, Latvia and i noticed something strange. Nature itself there is very different. How the trees move in the wind, how the earth smells, how herbs grow is very different from where I am coming from. And more than that. At night i could feel the ‘spirits’ around. There is no surprise that horror movies revolving around witchcraft and cults (like The VVitch or Midsommar) take place in the north. Not just the spirit of the forest but the spirit of the people is infused with this ancient magic and this rich enviroment through a very deep connec- tion with nature.
With this book I want to grasp something from this so called ‘spirit’. The forest has always been a place of metamorphosis. This metamorphosis for me starts from this single sphere and ends in fire. My project has a lynchian subtext which was my goal too. To explore the absurd, the surreal.
Also with this act of participating at an artist residency I put myself in the shoes of an observ- er. With this hightened observation state - visiting a place I have never seen before - the first impresions are the most important ones. I could interpret everything from that country from a socio-economic perspective also, but I think my first shock came from nautre itself. Everything after that is very man-made and mechanical.