Tombeau Imaginaire 18 2019

Elina Brotherus made this photograph, Tombeau Imaginaire 18, to explore the relationship between landscape and figure. The grey scale of the rocks and the pale skin of the figure create a quiet sense of drama. In this work, the texture of the stone and the overall coolness of the palette gives us a sense of the artist responding to a natural landscape that, although beautiful, is also slightly hostile and forbidding. She is standing in a rocky riverbed, surrounded by rough-hewn boulders that look almost grey in the light, broken up by pools of water. In the foreground, one of these pools throws off a yellowish reflection of the sky or the foliage above. And within it, we can see the artist's reflection too. I think of the photographic work of Jeff Wall, particularly his cinematic approach to lighting and composition. Like Wall, Brotherus transforms everyday scenes into moments of heightened awareness and aesthetic contemplation. She invites us to consider the interplay between art, nature, and the self.