In romantic landscape paintings human beings
often appear as a very small, but important element. Their size shows human
subordination to nature. However, their presence gives specific balance to the
immense natural scenery, because only the human gaze gives meaning to the
world.
These photographs are portraits that originate
from the lives of real people, but the boundaries of reality are shifted.
Images are staged, and these people are transformed into actors or characters,
representing specific relationships humans have with nature. This method was
based on contemporary transformations of people into specific consumer profiles
within market segmentation in capitalist society.
Neoromanticism is a form of nostalgia, an
escape from reality and from our civilization (for example, escape from city to
nature). We live in an age where ”real” is irrelevant as fiction has become
more believable (and photography a substitute for reality), but I think the
interesting question as always remains, how much of these staged portraits is
the truth?