Andrew Wierda, Oasis (Art (ATEP 2017))

These series of images were not only taken for their perplexing and audacious visuals, but also for the deep and moving narrative that is embedded in its enigma. This story is a delve into the obsession of the mind. How an individual, through great grief and sorrow, can be drawn back to his defining features and morals to spite the pain and anger they have caused. The ‘Chemist’ as I shall refer to is a product of his own deluded ambition. After relinquishing everything important in his life, he pursues his ‘art’. However his art engulfs his soul, and he loses himself in the process, along with any form of ratiocination. In a fit of misguided rage, he destroys everything he has worked for, decimating the only thing that gave him comfort and solitude. After long sleepless nights, his anger brewing and churning deep within the recess of his mind, he realizes that it is not over. He had given up his life for his creations, and it was an impossible feat for him to abandon his past as it had infused itself unto him, becoming him. He tried to fight the overwhelming urges of his obsession, something so violent and corrupt yet, like the eye of a storm, Beautiful. Finally accepting his inevitable compulsions, he returns to his roots, to his eden. In comes the first image. This photo shows the chemist returning to his eden, his physiological birthplace, a place now on the verge of total annihilation and thus a testament to the precariousness of his conscious. He stands, steadfast, holding the key back into his work, a vial containing a red liquid, symbolic for the rage and unrest amalgamated from his weary nights. Brooding there, he assimilates his legacy and prepares himself for the recrudescence to come. In image two we see the chemist stand over us as he looks down, making his way down to his laboratory. This photo shows the chemist re-immersed into his world of danger and insanity; the low angle highlights his state as the all powerful prophet when in his natural habitat. His foul nature, warped into the thing he had tried to forsake, emerging from the rubble. This is where he submerges himself back into ‘that’ reality, and he likes it. The third image of the collection depicts the chemist immersing himself into his utopia. As he does so, he dauntingly eyes up the spilt musty green chemical. A remnant of his alternative life representing the very ambition and madness that ensued his soul and crept its way into his mind. He stands there staring as he knows he is now in control of his destiny, aware of its lusting attraction but asserting himself as the dictator this time. No longer bewitched by its corrupting allure, he strides into his past more ready and willing than ever, like a toppled kingdom, overthrown by its oppressed leader, he is now in control. The fourth image in this series depicts the chemist overlooking an assortment of coloured chemicals, the equipment used before his decay. This diverse range of chemicals represents the contradictory chaos within his mind. An array of out of place and chaotic emotions that need to be recollected before he can begin. Reminiscing on his past, he holds the red liquid: his rage, the only clear, overbearing emotion within himself. The fifth image in this narrative displays the chemist ruminating over his chemicals as he pours the red liquid into a beaker. The profound meaning behind this picture is that the chemist is taking his symbolic rage and harnessing its power as a tool for the betterment of his work. Taking the only defining factor of oneself and manipulating it in a way which produces something greater than the sum of its parts. He is reassembling the disordered state of his mind by embracing the very thing that destroyed it, a testament to his obsession. The final image in this story frames the chemist leaning over his creation as he stares into the camera. The glowing gold solution positioned in the middle signifies the change in his journey back. It is symbolic in showing how he has transformed his rage and hate into a new found hope. Embracing his true self and utilizing it find new meaning, he has also found forgiveness within him. Forgiveness for the sacrifice he made, forgiveness for the obsession that destroyed him and forgiveness for returning to it. And in doing so, he stares into the camera as if to say this is who I am, this is what I've become, and this is how I'll stay.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.