The Art of Disappearing

Harry Fisch
Submission
November 10, 2022
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Indigenous people are usually a topic of discussion, but rarely do they have a hand in shaping it. I started the first photographs of this series in 2015 and returned years later to continue with the same tribe. Initially, there was mainly an aesthetic interest - the Arbore are people of a balanced beauty - and their way of life began to attract my attention. Some conversations turned curiosity into a cultural interest and, after some research, into a desire to share what I have seen and, even more, what I would like to see there in the future. 
I travel around the world, often as a witness of seemingly diametrically opposed realities to everyday western life. I wanted to contextualize the images or put it another way: imagery does not only act as a piece of information. The text is a guide, and real-life lived-in anecdotes, told in the first person, to inform the viewer of real-life experiences. 
In time, these individuals start to appear as "the others." This happens gradually, and then the process accelerates. The Arbore are being relocated. In this series, text, objects, and images are placed near each other, so the spectator interacts, making the conscious signifying parallel universes. Still, at the same time, it reflects on parallel and convergent universes. 
The more alien the signs are, the more mysterious the underlying interpretation is. My approach to photography is not that of a documentary photographer. I don't want to be bound by a strict "realistic" narrative. I am driven by my perceptions more than by the documentation of facts. My goal is to delve into the other side of the mirror, to try to understand what it reflects and how people are interpreted as "the other" when they switch from the observed to the observer. I wanted to underline the possible complicity between the indigenous as an object of the visitor-tourist and the vision of the visitor-tourist. I enjoy playful, interdisciplinary proposals. As far as I'm concerned, I'm bored of shouting, protests, and noises. 
Docu-fiction holds an interest for me as an instrument for telling a story. I am more interested in winning the attention of the reader, spectator or viewer and gradually -and lightly - leading him into the story as I want to portray it.

 

About
Harry Fisch has traveled incessantly, in the last 15 years to exotic destinations seeking to understand how a certain promiscuity, a complacency between the photographed and the photographer appears, even living such distant worlds. His transversal professional background has led him to combine over the years his passion for photography with that of entrepreneurship combined with forays into psychoanalysis studies to finally and in later years to devote himself entirely and with full dedication to the world of photography. His interest in photography seems always intertwined with that of other worlds and other lives. Always concerned with local people's struggle to preserve their cultural identities in the midst of local mainstream pressure. Follower of Bauridllard's line of thought when he noted: "…and rather than seeking out the identity beneath the mask, one should Seek out the mask beneath the identity." Without the constraints of a realistic narrative, he appreciates multidisciplinary concepts that are guided by perceptions rather than precise verification of facts. He finds himself constantly constructing images that match our preconceived notions, only to discover that they are not what they may seem to be, but rather what we want them to be to satisfy our romantic expectations. His work has been recognized by IPA, Lens Culture, Photolucida Critical Mass, Photo España, Tokyo International Foto Awards among many others..
Harry Fisch
Submission
November 10, 2022
Save
Unsave
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