As the title of Kovi Konowiecki's first monograph reads – and in its place,
another – reminds us, we are always and forever subject to the
double certainty of the ephemeral and of change. Just like the artist, who has
travels back and forth between California, Mexico, Europe and the
Middle East, places that are all part of the fabric of this sprawling book and
improvised. Here we are confronted with the geographical and emotional margins
of society and mind: the external and internal boundaries that inhibit
both human movement and human potential. The photographs
depict individuals and communities that exist in a liminal space
between belonging and abandonment, many of whom express feelings of
desolation. But what may seem political on the surface is rendered intensely
personal by Konowiecki's deliberate reliance on emotional connections
in images rather than in specific relationships of place or subject.
As he says, this work presents itself as a "happy coincidence, inspired by
frequent travels that have nourished a keen eye for liminal types of
communities that attract me: people I have met in my
wanderings, passers-by in the street, a horse trained in a small village
Arab and untended gardens. The "unscripted" nature of the work has
an impact on the form of the book, particularly in the variety of genres and
colors, from landscape photography to portrait and from black and white to
color. The different forms of expression serve to materialize ideas in
heart of the project and to break down barriers or restrictions within the medium
photographic.
