Tales from the Empire of Gnomes β photographs from the countryside β It has always fascinated me to study places and then capture them through photography. The center of my interest is usually the human being β how we live and what surrounds us. While shooting this series I asked myself: How do I fit in here, how do I feel? The often unpleasant proximity to other people in small-town areas and my own roots were the triggers for this series. The focus is on capturing the life habits of the suburbs protagonists.
This is then combined with self-portraits. The photographs work as a kind of sketch, a quick impression β sometimes precise, sometimes vague. Alexander Norton β Intimacy With Space , featured in Paper Journal Β»The space around us and how it is inhabited is a crucial component of living.
Having this awareness is quite a beautiful thing; it relies on regular occurrences. It might be the way we present our possessions in the corner of a room, or how we put our plate on our desk and where our knives and forks lie. There is no right or wrong way of doing this. It is an extension from natural and normal behaviour. It ties with our need to belong, at least for a short period of time until we move to another destination.
I have spent the past 5 or 6 years arranging my things into rooms such as lounges and kitchens, yet never fully committing to a particular place. The notion of commitment is a scary prospect. When I consider the space around me, why I am there and what I am doing within it it, ties to a very emotional connection to whatever we dream and strive for.
It is the place we reside after the sun goes down. It is home. They are places where we can temporarily exude our feelings; a private space where there is no judgement on what we do because no one can see. But we need to be seen. Pictures act as a key tool of remembrance; they become paused for the moment that either tells the truth or lies through its teeth. If we want to hide from the world we can, and we can place a lie onto the sensors and negatives of our cameras. At this point, photography is at its most personal.
