Heartbeat
Kurtis’s photography is often created by manipulating the negatives. Interventions during the developing process or in the finished image describe his aesthetic signature, such as the ‘Heartbeat’ series, which presents invisible portraits of refugees. By these means, Kurtis creates a visual parallel with the way the police use heartbeat detectors to search for illegal refugees hiding inside cargo trucks. Unseen, yet exposed. The obscure image in these photographs is made by overexposing the film, and only a closer look reveals the imperceptible silhouettes. This technique paradoxically helps make the overlooked situation of migrants more visible. The method of using the faded effect also blurs a purely documentary nature of Kurtis’s photography, representing the vague memory of disappeared persons and unfulfilled expectations.
