The new photographic series Twisted Tales – Road to Hope by Markus Henttonen transports us into another dimension, a dimension of intimacy and controversy. By looking at the pictures we are no longer standing in front of some photographs, we are immerged in a new world. We are carried by the author through an introspective trip into a dimension of intimacy, sterile lights and mystery.
We travel through spectral landscapes, find ourselves on roads mid in nowhere or looking at deer in the woods, surrounded by the virgin nature. We take part at intimate scenes without being seen and become clandestine witnesses of them or come in direct contact with the subjects in front of us. We are overwhelmed by the intensity of their looks, by the closeness we suddenly experience looking at them and being looked back by them. We look at the pictures and feel the necessity of asking questions- questions concerning the meaning, the subject and the places we suddenly find ourselves in. Henttonen pictures do not explain, they raise questions, or quoting the french photographer Brassaï, they do not insist nor explain, they suggest. The photography of Markus Henttonen has the capability to shift one in his introspective world. One finds himself surrounded by a mysterious but delicate atmosphere, by the solitude of the landscapes and the magical plays of the light. The sterile lights and the precise study of the esthetic composition of the pictures make this shift possible; the beautifully conceived images are powerful and deep- “Road to Hope” isn’t longer just the title of the series, it becomes also the experience that one lives looking at Henttonens pictures.
Markus Henttonen – “Twisted Tales- Road to hope” is coming out fall 2015 via Hatje Cantz.
All photos courtesy by Hatje Cantz and the author.
