THE DANISH TESTAMENT

Currently I'm working on a series of photographs under the heading BEING BESIDES MYSELF. 

This work is inspired by a simple, yet powerful question that I encounter frequently in my work with divination and fortunetelling with cards: DOES HE LOVE ME? I want to apply this question from the heart to my eyes through the lens of my camera. I'm curious to see if I can capture in the silver halides some of the anxiety, longing, dreams, fears, and wishes that I see represented in oracular settings, when I fling the cards across the table to the lovers' astonishment.

When women ask my cards: 'Does he love me?' or when men ask my cards, 'does she love me?,' I often find that this question comes from a fascinating type of positioning. When people are besides themselves in love, they are also beyond time.

It occurs to me that 'being besides myself' beyond time is the only thing that explains why the question, 'does he love me?' remains relevant and unchanged for someone who is either currently in a relationship, wants to be in one, or used to be in one. Time does not apply. 

The photographs in this series explore this dimension of eradicated time and place in the face of love that's fraught with anguish and unfulfilled desire. Can I capture the eternal spell that lovers cast on themselves when they are besides themselves, at the mercy of timelessness and infinite displacement?

Although one may think that with this frame the given is to focus on people, my intention is to photograph nature and displaced objects in nature as well, in order to see how 'being besides myself' manifests there. Thus the portfolio consists of portraits, street action, and nature.