Broken Fall (Organic) 1971

This photograph, "Broken Fall (Organic)" captures a performance by Bas Jan Ader, who was interested in gravity and failure. I look at this image and I think about how much courage it must have taken. What kind of person climbs a tree, and deliberately falls out? It feels like such an existential act! Ader seems to be asking: what does it mean to give in to the world, to forces beyond our control? I imagine he might have been thinking about the precariousness of life, the tension between control and surrender. The fall is a simple action, but in Ader’s work, it becomes loaded with meaning. He turned his own body into a medium, testing the limits of physical endurance and exploring vulnerability. I see a connection between Ader’s performances and the work of other artists who embrace chance and uncertainty. It’s about letting go and seeing what happens.