THE PATHOS OF THINGS - OPUS I

The Pathos of Things - Opus I

Handmade Artist Book
Edition: 25 copies and 5 artist proofs
59 Archival Pigment prints on BFK Arches Velin deckled cotton paper
Hardcover binding with handmade Nepalese paper
Custom handmade clamshell box in cloth and Nepalese paper

“If in the Western world, the concept of transience is frequently associated with sad connotations, the oriental philosophies approach it with a mixture of melancholy and joyful appreciation, through which we can become aware of the miracle of existence, and can reach enlightenment.

Many are the critics and practitioners who have studied the connection between photography and time throughout the history of the medium. Allen Ginsberg said: “The sacramental quality [of photographs] comes from an awareness of the transitory nature of the world, an awareness that it’s a mortal world”. Roland Barthes, in “Camera Lucida”, concludes that the very noeme of photography is its declaration that something “has-been”. This idea of loss associated with time is also shared by Susan Sontag. For her, all photographs are “memento mori”, and photography is “an elegiac art, that touches with pathos the subject photographed”.

But the relationship between photography and time can also be understood from the point of view of what is gained, rather than lost. Photography can also be, paradoxically, a desperate (yet maybe futile) attempt to escape from the tyranny of time and, ultimately, death.”

-Rafael Rojas