The Darkroom Experiment

In my series "The Darkroom Experiment" I portrayed people with different cultural backgrounds under the same circumstances. In total darkness I waited until the pupils fully dilated to firstly capture an expression of concentration and orientation in a total dark space. In a second step various tools where used to create tension, stress and sometimes even anxiety – the level and type of emotion expressed is subjective to the personality of the participant. Taken under the same conditions the series still shows various reactions and behaviors. These reactions are characterized by abstinence: of light and therefore of the ability to connect with the photographer, as well as the awareness of one’s own self in front of the camera. Expressions were therefore reduced to an instinctive, free and ignorant behavior. Since many years I have been fascinated by the fact that 93% of our communication is transmitted via facial expressions, body language and sounds. Only 7% of the information the receiver receives, is from verbal transmitting. In my recent projects I concentrated deeper on instinctive and universal facial expressions and gestures. While posture, eye and body contact, safety distance and appearance are mainly cultural and educational, there are culturally independent correlating facial expressions and instinctive behaviours, like hand, arm and body movements. "The Darkroom Experiment" is the first series of my journey on depicting human behaviours.