Float
‘At a land fill construction site on the beach of Yeosu, the stones constantly rained down from the conveyer belt as if they were black curtains making loudly clanging noise. Curious to see how they look like when they fall, I shoot them in fast shutter speed and the phenomenon only stopped its motion when the speed went up to 1/8000s. When the act of falling was overturned to look like it is floating, there was the universe I had sensed when I read Carl Sagan in my youth. The scene was nonexistent as it is invisible unless I bring it to existence by capturing it on camera just like our lives gazed at from somewhere across the far away universe. Since then started my yearly project of Float, where I make tens of thousands shots of the falling stones in high frame rate then select and print 10~15 images revealing the hidden beauty found outside the recognizable boundaries as it only appears in the moment when the chance of the falling phenomenon and the inevitability contained in the intentional act of shooting intersect with each other. Every moment and every phenomenon shuttle endlessly between ‘existence’ and ‘absence’. The momentary space and silence in between, the unshaken face of phenomenon transcending the falling fate and time that's visible only to the eye of the camera. The present of certain life and phenomenon is above and beyond in such ways when it is placed outside the context. Things forming us, forming those surrounding us are the mysterious universe and countless dreams, and the time of the same moments gather together to compose our lives. In this way, our lives drift somewhere in the cosmic time and space.’ – Jun Ahn
