I have this fascination with the body being present and, at the same time, the mind being somewhere else.
Whether that’s through heightened attention on something particular or completely lost in a haze of euphoria, without any thought - all feeling and passing.
Completely in tune with the body or completely absent - one leads into the other. A passage or portal.
Transparency - there and not there.
What is this look?
It’s either a blank, deep stare directly into the camera, as if staring through or beyond.
Or a look that is unresponsive to the viewer’s gaze - they are elsewhere, focused, tranquil.
It does not seem performative. It looks like oblivion. It sounds like silence. It feels like peace.
There is an acute sense of stillness, patience and clarity that is present in a ‘somewhere else’ photo. I am drawn to this mysterious space alluded to - it is deep contemplation; it is no thought; it is another plane.
It’s exactly how I feel. I want to be present and elsewhere - lingering between awareness and awayness.
This is what I want to make. This is how I want to be. Slipping in and out with but a breath.