Octopus Garden
I started this ongoing series based on my sorrow about the almost inevitable loss of the coral reefs. The notion of not being able to protect this amazingly rich underwater jungle with its abundance nor to share that wonder of life with future generations breaks my heart.
Playing around with some flowers in an underwater setting, I realized how they turned into stunning aquatic beings. I started dreaming a life-sustaining future imagining that plants contribute to a new form of underwater life.
That’s how I turned my grief into agency with this art activism project. I am still full of awe about this unfamiliar yet impressive beauty.
The title octopus garden refers to the Beatles:
Childhood memories of this song came up looking at my underwater geranium reminding me of tentacles.
One image reminds me of that moment within the never-ending story, where Bastian saves Phantasien and creates a whole new world, and everything starts to grow from scratch. And I think about humanity acting like the nothingness in this book, erasing everything. I think about nature evolving like it always does. I think about our connection to the natural world and a needed shift of consciousness, culture and myth that Joseph Campell described so brilliantly.
I am so delighted this series has been awarded!
PHOTOLUCIDA Critical Mass 2022 Finalist ( I am still over the moon!)
CHROMATIC Awards 2022 – Winner Environmental (amateurs) again!
And various Honorable Mentions …
17th POLLUX Awards 2022 – Winner series // cell phone (amateurs)
CHROMATIC Awards 2021 – Winner Environmental (amateurs)
18th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards 2022 – Honorable Mentions
18th POLLUX Awards 2022 – Honorable Mentions
ND Awards 2022 – Honorable Mentions
FAPA 2022 Fine art photography awards – Fine art | Nominee (amateurs)
TiFA 2022 Tokyo international Foto Awards – Fine art Honorable Mention
IPA 2021 International photography awards – Honorable Mentions
And exhibited!
The Octopus Garden is part of the BARCELONA FOTO BIENNALE presenting the Pollux Awards and the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards at FOTO NOSTRUM GALLERY from October 13 – October 30, 2022.
My image LAVISHNESS is selected by Wendi Schneider for the BOTANICALS Exhibition of A.Smith Gallery, Nov/Dec 2022.
AND published!
There is a wonderful interview about it at spectaculum magazine aswell!
I am so honoured to be chosen as cover artist of HUMANA OBSCURA MAGAZINE issue #04 with my image SPHERE.
And so very pleased about being among the selected artists of the 14th Anniversary Issue #157 of FRACTION MAGAZINE with my image LOST IN TRANSLATION.
ART DOC Photography Magazine selected three artworks for its exhitbion COLORS OF LIFE: SPHERE, EMERGENCE and RAPTURE. They even did a feature for the Octopus Garden in addition.
And the Octopus Garden is shortlisted and published in the CLIMATE CREATIVES CHALLENCE COMPENDIUM Ecologial Change.
I am so proud and delighted that I can contribute to a life-sustaining future with this series at ARTISTS FOR ECOCIDE LAW. And even more delight to see my artwork next to adored film director Mika Kaurismäki! And my image PHOENIX will be part of the ECOCIDE LAW CALENDAR 2023! So happy this serie can fulfill its purpose …
And last but not least, one image BELOW THE EDGE OF DARKNESS that represents a further development of this series – no I am not done yet with it – is an Editor’s Pick at LENSCULTURE 2023 Art Photography Awards, such an honor! The image is a tribute to Edith Widder, a marine biologist heroine /scientist/discoverer and her immensily inspiring book where I have taken the title from. It is about bioluminescence and the deep sea.
Lost in translation
Argos
Emergence
Radiance
Rapture
Sphere
Grace
Phoenix
Appearance
Serenity
Lavishness
Sophisticated
Presence
Humble warrior
Interconnected
