Unsemmering

The project developed over the course of a summer, bringing to life a thousand Polaroids portraying a series of strangers found through advertisements and signs in the deserted, sun-drenched city. It explores disguise—the act of hiding to reveal oneself—and a shedding of skin in the animal sense, a mutation that recalls Dionysian rites, the Scirophoria, and festivals dedicated to the cult of Helios. Whether through clothing, the apotropaic symbol of the mask, or a mimesis with nature via multiple exposures, it evokes what Jung referred to as the shadow: that which we hide from ourselves. Dreaming of a mask in a summer landscape under the bright sun, where no shadows should exist, points to a repressed truth emerging at the very moment of greatest brightness.
Summer is transmutation and apparition; each summer is never the same, yet it evokes all those before it, like a solstice ritual. The climate pushes nature to its extremes, lulling the body into vivid dreams that feel more real than reality itself. The colors, ranging from shades of green to diluted blues, absorb the individual, leaving them imbued with an impalpable mystery. For summer is not merely a season, but a state of the senses—the irrational blurring the line between desire and truth. It is the body captured in a silhouette outlined in blue or red; it is fallen angels in urban forests, tears of crystals, fairy wings, and ebony skin beneath silver masks. It is the zenith sun burning on shoulder blades, the imprint of rounded leaves on the skin. A piece of torn, stained tulle left on the grass all night.