In The Optically Exposed Photographs, Sometimes Fantasies Dwell

Whispering with elves, trolls and hidden-folks is a series of 50 photographs that I took in Iceland between 2011-2012 during my year as an Artist in Residence, granted by POLA Art Foundation.

Iceland is a country with an entirely unique culture among powerful weather and extraordinary nature such as geothermal activities, glacier-cut fjords, lava fields, valleys full of herbs, generous pure water and hot springs. Furthermore, Iceland is a mystical place. In this distinctive environment I was always attracted to eerie senses, as if I was spellbound by the mythical and imaginary beings that dwelled in that nature.

When those mystical views were evoked in me, I took photographs. Optically speaking, only the visible real world can be depicted in the photographs. My attempt however, is to try and capture the correlative phenomenon between invisible figments and real natural principles, and I am gradually getting convinced that it is in truth possible to prove the fantastical recognition through optical media - photography. I try to show the results of my trial within this work, hoping what i have captured has an effect on other people too.

This series of 50 photographs were taken with 1 shutter release on 5x4 films with a pinhole camera and printed in a darkroom. There were no double exposures and no digital manipulation.

- Keiko KURITA