Gomma Photography Grant 2021
Black Waves
Photographer
Miranda Schmitz
Black Waves
31 Jan, 2022
‘Black Waves’ is an expressionistic and metaphorical project that explores the dark depths of grief. It’s a based on the true story of a friend of mine, who lost her 19 year old daughter Eva to suicide on a holiday with her boyfriend in France in 2012. The series is a personal visual interpretation of the 7 diaries full of grief that I received from the mother of Eva. In this project, I use nature as a poetic tool to narrate a personal story. I visualize the harsh and unknown landscape of mourning. I materialize the nature of sadness and loss. I show her intense desire to reverse the cruel truth by adding some negative prints to the story. The title ‘Black Waves’ refers to the negative moods of Eva which led to the irreversible act of stepping out of life. But also to the tide of grief that characterizes the life of the family she left behind. Like Murakami wrote: ’Memories are what warm you up from the inside, but they’re also what tear you apart’. Grief comes in waves, in paroxysms, in sudden apprehensions that weaken the knees, blind the eyes and obliterate the daily life.
About the photographer
Miranda Schmitz
Miranda Schmitz (°1969) is an award winning photographer and visual storyteller from Belgium. She studied Economics and Psychology and in daily life she works as an independent consultant. Nevertheless she also caught the photography bug. In June 2017 she graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lier. In addition she followed several master classes led by well-known photographers (e.g. Michael Ackerman and Klavdij Sluban). The enigmatic and cinematic portraits from her graduation work received global praise with several awards and nominations. Her series were also frequently exhibited in galleries and on photo festivals across the world (e.g. Bruges, Sydney, New York, San Francisco, Lishui, Addis Abeba, Kuala Lumpur). Miranda Schmitz is drawn to dark and psychological issues, to life changes and to a mix of vulnerability and strength. She strives to compile atmospheres, moods and feelings in her work. She prefers to make pure but suggestive and ambiguous images that are often layered. It is the emotions and the visual poetry that provide an extra layer to her images.
