sovereign fruits
17 Juni 2021

sovereign fruits 2019-21

Archival Pigment Print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag, edition of 3 + 1 a.p., several sizes, 100 x 125 cm, 70 x 90 cm,  50 x 70 cm

sovereign fruits, printed artist book with an essay by the author, hardcover imageWrap, ISBN 9781006823855, printed on Mohawk Superfine Eggshell Paper, 64 pages

https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/10933904-sovereign-fruits

 

sovereign fruits 17 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 17

Last night a fungus saved my life.

A habitat near my hometown, off balance. I am taking photographs with a 4×5“ camera.

Analogue film material is pretreated before exposing to light. Mushrooms pollute their spores latently.

Depending on humidity and ripeness, hidden processes take hours to months.

One of the oldest living beings on this planet. Being neither animal nor plant, our closest cellular relatives.

Using biological ambivalence to provoke and embed chaos and chance.

 

sovereign fruits 07 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 07

Using biological ambivalence to provoke and embed chaos and chance.

sovereign fruits 04 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 04

Using biological ambivalence to provoke and embed chaos and chance.

sovereign fruits 27 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 27

Swampland: everything seems to be neither predetermined nor totally incidentally.

sovereign fruits 06 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 06

Swampland: everything seems to be neither predetermined nor totally incidentally.

sovereign fruits 98 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 98

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 61 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 61

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

 

sovereign fruits 89 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 89

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 62 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 62

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 90 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 90

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 23 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 23

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 51 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 51

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 24 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 24

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 09 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 09

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 32 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 32

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 18 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 18

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 19 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 19

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 02 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 02

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 13 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 13

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 03 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 03

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 81 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 81

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 92 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 92

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 20 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 30

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 21 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 21

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 36 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 36

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 38 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 38

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 10 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 10

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks..

sovereign fruits 49 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 49

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 28 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 28

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 40 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 40

Biologic monuments simply blossom into floral masks.

sovereign fruits 22 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 22

Mushrooms can’t be tamed. They are truly wild.

I call them sovereign fruits.

sovereign fruits 20 Thomas Zika art photography

sovereign fruits 20

Sovereign Fruits

Seit drei Jahren fotografiere ich im Rahmen eines work in progress in mehreren Biotopen in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Aufgrund der Auswirkungen des Klimawandels haben sich die Habitate enorm verändert. Die Bäche drohen auszutrocknen und die Bäume stürzen beim leichtesten Sturm um, weil die Wurzeln im ausgetrockneten Boden keinen Halt mehr finden.

Ich manipuliere die analogen Negative meiner Großbildkamera bereits vor der eigentlichen Aufnahme mit Pilzen, die mit ihren Sporen die fotografisch empfindlichen Oberflächen des Filmmaterials fotochemisch beeinträchtigen, und somit unvorhersehbare Bildergebnisse produzieren. Es entstehen lamellenartige kreisförmige Umrisse, die anmuten wie eine Mischung aus Explosion und Aura. Diese „chaotischen“ Prozesse in der Dunkelkammer dauern Stunden bis Monate, bis ich schlussendlich fotografiere.

Zusätzlich zu der latenten Beeinträchtigung durch die Pilzsporen befestige ich Wurzeln ausgetrockneter Pflanzen im Balgen meiner Grossformatkamera, die fotogrammartige Umrisse innerhalb der Bildausschnitte erzeugen.

Das Resultat sind chaotisch anmutenden Fotografien, die von einer eigenen Wahrheit und Schönheit flüstern. Der Zufall ist zugleich mein Freund und mein Feind.

Indem ich als Künstler mit paradoxalen Strategien arbeite, versuche ich, Eros und Thanatos symbolisch zu balancieren.

2019-21

Archival Pigment Prints auf Hahnemühle PhotoRag

Edition von 3 + 1 a.p.

Verschiedene Größen:

100 x 125 cm, 70 x 90 cm, 50 x 70 cm