Photobook “The Shadow Line”.

The photobook „The Shadow Line” is a subjective story about animals, specifically about animal-human relationships in the times of post-humanism.

Photographer Michał Korta is breaking away from the conventional photography known from wildlife books and movies to focus on the emotions and feelings related to the night wanders. By watching the unfocused, shaken, and grainy nighttime pictures, the viewer is asking themselves whether they are looking into the eyes of an animal or is it a clever photographer’s suggestion… Perhaps the recipient should retrieve their own experiences of the animal kingdom from their imagination or memories.

The counterpoint to these almost abstract pictures is the studio depictions of precisely illuminated animal skulls. They are repeated in the book like a chorus, inspiring the imagination with their specificity, but at the same time, provoking to compare humanistic and animalistic things. En plein-air the photographer sees less, moves slower, and leaves space for the coincidence. The control is regained in the workshop – then, connected with animals by experiencing the night together, he witnesses their death and is a “shaman” conducting the alternative burial ceremony. While portraying skulls and skeletons, he treats them with due respect.

This book is an artistic object – the statement of three creators: photographer, text author, and graphic designer. Michał Korta, the photographer, uses pictures to recount his vision of the relation between human and non-human entities. His story correlates with the poetic, impressionistic narrative of poet and prose writer Małgorzata Lebda, living in the mountains of Beskid Sądecki and closely watching the crossover of the human and nature worlds. All is tied together by Kuba Sowiński’s design (in collaboration with Michał Korta and Krzysiek Orłowski). The photobook printed on heavy paper creates the conceptual pierce, pleasant-to-touch artwork open to interpretation in the post-humanistic debate.

The book contains 48 pictures.

“The Forest Bones” text”: Małgorzata Lebda

Editorial and graphic design: Kuba Sowiński