Camera-less analogue photography

“All forms are similar, yet none is the same as another And so the chorus points to a hidden law, To a sacred mystery.”

In Goethe’s words, I recognise a thought that also occupies me in my work: forms can be related to one another and still differ. Their similarity reveals something they share, while each retains its own shape.

The abstract images in my series “Geometry of Chaos” are made entirely by analogue means, without a camera, in the darkroom. They begin with forms and structures that develop through the interaction of the materials I use. I influence their course, pick up certain patterns and pursue them further. At the same time, I leave room for results that escape my planning.

Patterns of order emerge: lines branch, structures grow denser, and similar forms appear at different scales. Some recall fractals. Repetitions become visible, change or dissolve again. Each image grows out of the reactions of the material and my decisions about its form.

I find a related thought in the work of the mathematician Heinz-Otto Peitgen. He describes how natural patterns are subject to chance as they develop, yet still produce recurring structures:

“And yet the same patterns and structures emerge again and again with flawless regularity and stability […]”

In this, I recognise something of my own experience in the darkroom. There, too, an unplanned development does not mean that all order is lost. Recurring patterns emerge through the interaction of the materials, yet their individual forms still surprise me.

These forms also remind me of the patterns of our lives. We follow familiar paths, repeat actions, meet other people and change direction. I sometimes imagine how all these movements over a longer period would look in a drawing, as if seen from above. There would be recurring paths, intersections, concentrations and branches. Many of these courses would resemble one another. Yet their connections, their duration and the small changes would create a pattern unique to each person.

In this way, I also see something of our existence in my images: we make decisions and, at the same time, are shaped by what we encounter.