Stek

“How do we look at a photograph of a place when there are no anchor points? How do we approach the surface of a landscape, rendered flat in an image, when there is no significant horizon, or when there are no trees for scale? Onto what do we cling our gaze? (Rocks, solid as they may be, are deceptive in size and therefore unreliable.) ‘Stek’ is a word that speaks of a certain space, or a certain spot in a certain space. In this book, Els Martens deals with a certain space, through a series of still photographs. By shifting the view- point gently to the right, she invites us to truly enter the landscape, to explore and to discover it. But by zooming in and out, she simultaneously challenges us to find solid ground. The frame of a photograph is a restricted one. Its rectangular form only allows you to manoeuvre so far. The same limitation in movement can be found in the curious circles in the landscape; the perfectly round and dark brown figures on the ground that out- line the ‘stek’ of each chained dog."



text Touching ground Stefan Vanthuyne (ENG, NL, FR), APE#099, Els Martens, Stek, © 2018,
 
21 x 28 cm, 42 p, ills colour, flatbind, edition of 300