WAY OF SEAING

Berlin, Germany
2020 - 2022

︎︎︎ Way of Seaing: the book︎︎︎
︎︎︎ Part of Light clarity avocado salad in the morning︎︎︎ ~ group exhibition curated by Horațiu Lipot @ Jecza Gallery, Timisoara, Romania, 2021


Photography is an extension of my perception of the world, and Way of Seaing is a project (and a book︎︎︎) that describe my practice completely. I photographed the sun reflecting in the water for the first time when I was nine years old, and since then my whole practice is dedicated to perception, to how things exist, to how they come into being, to light, to how they appear to my mind.

Way of Seaing is a body of work inspired by the human mind, Indra's net, or the interconnectedness between everything. It is about seeing, being seen, and the sea, and ultimately, a tribute to the mind.
The project consists of an on-going series of photographs of light glittering on the water, as metaphors for the mind, short texts, poems, and dreams, following a journey about understanding thoughts and feelings, and overcoming fears - by bringing light on them, in order to eventually go beyond them.

Seeing or looking at things is a very fascinating subject for me, as I work with photography and images in general - with both real, existing, obvious images, and more subtle images, that exist solely in my mind, that I create without even knowing. This project was born from my understanding of the Buddhist philosophy and psychology of the mind, and from empirical research into my own mind, paying attention to what I pay attention to. It is clear for me that my experience of life depends on the perceptions and conceptions that I have about myself and the world, as everything I experience is a reflection of my thoughts. Their quality affects every part of my life, therefore I find it crucial to know them, where they come from and what can I do with them. And if they are not helpful, to understand how can I morph them into something more beneficial and not harmful. So I try to notice my mind and question my assumptions, to see clearly the reality I live in. Way of Seaing explores this potential of the human mind to understand itself and the world around it, and perfecting it.


“The mind mirror illumines all ingenuously.
Its penetrating, limitless rays reach everywhere in the universe.
Without exception, everything is reflected in this mirror.
The whole universe is a gem of light beyond the terms of in and out.”
Yoka Daishi (7th cent. CE.)


The light and the water in my photographs are symbols of the mind.
The light reveals everything.
The water reflects everything. 

SUNFLOWER FIELD

Romania
2020 - now

Sunflower Field is a homage to the intertwining of life and death, to all my elders and ancestors. It is a meditative photographic essay in two parts: Life Implies Death, containing insights from my family history, and Death Implies Life, a personal reflection on impermanence, change, death, and afterlife.

DESIRE REALM

Berlin, Germany
2021 - 2024

*coming up soon*


Desire Realm is a meditation on attachment, desire, and real love.
It follows the narrative of a love story
from the initial falling in love, like in a dream,
going through the hardships of dealing with projections, delusions, disappointments
and eventually falling out of the dreamy state and discovering what true love might look like,
by using the impermanence of body and the senses
and questioning asumptions and strong beliefs
as tools to remain anchored in reality
while honestly trying to open the heart.

I
inside here
1993 - now

The I project explores the me, mine, and myself phenomena. It’s interesting that I constantly think that there is something that stays the same inside me, that I carry with me throughout my life, and establishes myself, this I. At the same time, I am aware that I am changing every moment, growing, and growing out of things. I wash my body, old cells go away, I cut my nails, they grow again and I cut them again. I learn new things and I unlearn others. I replace stuff. I forget things, I invent things. I leave things behind. On a gross level and intentionally I change the way I look. I do it with haircuts, earings, makeup, clothes, gestures, habits. Unintentionally, on a subtle level, I grow older every second, going towards decay. I move my body in so many places in this world, and each place puts a new layer of me on top of the old ones. I change. I changes. What is this I and how is it possible to think that it remains the same overtime? Who is actually in each picture that I or someone else took of myself? Who I thought I was back then and who do I think I am now?
Who am I? Who is I?

walking on a street, holding, wearing someone else’s thing
feeling that the style doesn’t really represent me
then a thought comes
what is there to be represented actually
what's this worry, this grasping to
what’s this me
why i am so stuck in this idea of me
i see i am inside something
like inside this me
and i know it’s still me who makes this idea
but this me is different that the other me
do you have this too
or it’s just
me
?

APROAPE

Öland, Sweden
2021

Aproape is a series of images I took to illustrate a personal essay written by Ruxandra Patrascu Maian on love, break-ups, and how every separation can actually teach us to love.

The photographs and the essay were part of Aproape, a Romanian project, part of the INTRO cultural project, co-financed by AFCN and implemented by the cultural association Frilensar.ro together with Inclusiv.ro.