Gazing at you

This is a collaborative piece of work, combining both photography and writing. By Marysia Świetlicka and Io Sivertsen. In the beginning of lockdown last year, whilst working on separate graduation projects, finishing our photography BA in The Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, and while scrutinizing our visual language we turned the lens to look at one another. We wanted to touch each other, but couldn’t. The project became an exchange of uncomfortably intimate moments, voyeuristic glimpses and an exploration of the gaze. The images are taken in a moment of complete trust, a silent performance.

My father doesn’t believe climate change is caused by rising human emissions. But I do. This work encompasses my relationship with him, while simultaneously describing my relationship to weather. It is a satirical approach to a very serious issue, blurring the lines of personal experiences and facts. Because it is very difficult to believe something that is not visible yet, this is an intuitive exploration on how climate change manifests itself.

When I was 15 my doctor told me that it would be difficult for me to have children. She said there was something wrong with my eggs. All I could think about then, was the chickens in my mom's garden. How they carefully covered their eggs, wanting that someday they would hatch. I usually had to stroke their feathers, to remove the egg from their shelter, to bring it back inside, to the frying pan. The first objects we learn are domestic. Plate, cup, fruit and eggs. You learn their shape and colour, traits and qualities. Water is in the cup, and fruit is on the plate. But they can both break if you throw them on the floor. But the fruit will only bruise, while the egg shatters. As a woman you are often confronted with your own ability to reproduce. That the clock is ticking, eggs are disappearing and you are becoming obsolete. The duality of the meaning of objects is exhilarating, that an egg is both totally conventional, yet also exceptional. I am trying to make you look closely at something, To examine an egg.