CRACKS IN EXISTENCE



The basis of our existence is everyday life. Since we experience the fact of existence as extremely important, we are astonished whenever we realize that it is spent on trifles. Because our existence takes place mainly in common experience, among ordinary activities, we invalidate ourselves when denying their meaning. There is always something going. Quietly. And we don't protest because we don't notice. Everyday life is a doubly elusive reality. It rolls towards non-existence and manifests itself in imperceptibility. It is transparent. Leaves no traces. The few we manage to spot, fade away after a short while. It keeps us asured that it is not only impossible to capture it, but smply not worth it. Invisibility is it's form of presence.



The necessary condition to understand the entity's communicates is our readiness to listen. Focus. Tense attention. We are the ones reading, although only what is given to us. All this requires rigor, sobriety and a combination of our ability to receive with some criticism. It can easily happen, that amidst the indistinct language of existence, we can only hear our own voice. Therefore, it's all about restraining yourselves.



The representation of existence - "something" as a "particle of existence" - cannot be confused with a "fragment of reality". Fragments are some elements, arbitrarily cut off from the whole, and do not constitute natural structures. Such as particles of existence embodied in an existential concrete. The conflict between our desire to hear a particle of existence and the attitude of cutting reality into arbitrary pieces while dictating the world's conditions of useness, can be partially omitted by introducing the concept of an "object". An object is what exists and what is perceived. Not every thing is an object, but only those elements that have the ability to influence and attract our attention.



Encountering particles of existence, although demanding our attention, is concerned with our existence. When we try to understand their message, we ultimately come to understanding ourselves. Perhaps it's because we ourselves are an existential concrete and a meeting of those who exist happens, revealing our common meaning.



Fragments are a mutilated reality. Disconnected from the whole by a cataclysm, like a broken leg of a table or a person. Or separated artificially to make them easier to recognize - for our own benefit - torn from their natural surroundings, cut to the size of a specimen and placed under an electron microscope. They remain silent. Cutting out fragments from reality is caused by the mind's desperate struggle to understand the world. But it is done in such a way that we do not listen to the world, but tear up, crush and hastily use the reality that surrounds us.



Anything that exists can be a concrete existence capable of turning into an existential object. Every single thing: sand, a rat, a plate, a bud, a sausage, a baby being born. And every single activity: eating, walking, giving birth, dying. While anything and everything can become an existential object, it doesn't happen quite often. Probably, because the meaning contained in the being is not very clear and is rarely obvious. And we are not attentive enough.





The series is a visual interpretation of Jolanta Brach-Czaina's philosophical treatise Cracks in Existence. It comprises analog images accompanied by excerpts from the book, which is regarded as a guide to mindfulness and living in the present moment. The photographs, inspired by the aesthetic style of German artist Wolfgang Tillmans, reflect a female gaze in their execution.


ANALOG PHOTOGRAPHY




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