Artist's Note
Finding the Inner Light - illuminare
German photographer Thomas Ruff coined the term "technical image" in his exhibition 'd.o.pe.' He stated, "After taking a photograph, we use software for correction, which should also be considered as a technical image. Rendering processes are widely used through digital devices to synthesize virtual images to appear like reality. Nowadays, distinguishing between traditional photography and technical images, whether made by software or a camera, has become quite challenging."
Through my illuminare series, I aim to provoke thoughts on how these images are created and how people perceive them, using newly revealed images and sculptures composed in three-dimensional representations. Media theorist Vilém Flusser claims in his book "Ins Universum der technischen Bilder" that "photographs not only represent but also act as models." Hermann Hesse pioneered the realm of Bildungsroman, depicting the process of discovering the path to the inner self through novels like 'Demian' and 'Siddhartha.' The illuminare series aims to depict the journey towards the inner self through technical image photography.
Observing moss clinging scarcely noticeable to rocks during hiking felt like observing myself standing at life's sidelines. Each moss, captured with empathy through the camera, carried their own splendid histories. The "technical images," resurrecting hidden light within dry traces, with splendid patterns and colors, serve as records of the journey to find the inner self. Furthermore, these "technical images," exploring lively and dynamic colors and patterns within seemingly dead moss, can be seen as endeavors to overcome the opposition of spirituality and physicality, nature and civilization, life and death, and to seek harmony between the two extremes.