„in the mountainous borderland“ area is a photographic work shot on black-and-white film in a ski resort situated within a vast, snow-covered mountain landscape, close to the border between Styria and Carinthia, on the Carinthian side.
The title Borderland carries a double meaning. On the one hand, it refers to the geographical location of the work, situated in a border region between two Austrian provinces. On the other, it describes a more ambiguous, almost precarious condition: the landscape itself exists at a boundary between what is natural and what has been made accessible, controlled, and altered by humans. In this sense, the ski resort appears almost as something “borderline” – an intervention pushed into an environment that remains vast, harsh, and potentially overwhelming.
The presence of the ski resort is often barely visible. Instead, the images linger on the surrounding landscape, where traces of human intervention appear small and almost incidental. The constantly overcast weather creates a muted and sombre atmosphere, giving the work a sense of darkness and isolation. The sequence can almost be read as the course of a single day, gradually moving towards a final image taken at night.
The work moves between a desire for solitude and a search for closeness. Wide, empty spaces and a sense of isolation are contrasted with intimate close-ups, suggesting a longing to withdraw while simultaneously reaching towards something or someone.
At its core, the work reflects a contradiction in our relationship with nature. There is a contemporary desire to seek out the untouched, the wild, and the seemingly pure, while at the same time nature has to be controlled and made accessible in order for us to enter and inhabit it. The ski resort becomes a subtle manifestation of this tension: a space carved into a landscape where we seek proximity to nature, while simultaneously protecting ourselves from its force.
Technique: Leica R7, Fomapan 100, digital scan
Year of origin: 2020
