Ruinaulta

There are sparsely populated regions in which the traces of human beings can be interpreted as signs of their absence. These signs are what interest Ester Vonplon in the series Ruinaulta. In her portraits, she shows this absence by rephotographing and through long exposures, reducing human beings to eery apparitions. At the same time, she leads us into atmospheric landscapes and makes us linger between poetry and reality. The viewer is challenged to imagine the stories that might lie there. The series Ruinaulta came into being in the early morning hours and crisp cold of the Rheinschlucht gorge, with an old Polaroid camera that was pushed to the limits of its capacities. Chance also played an important role in the creation of these images, which are covered with a grey haze that gives them a mystical air. —Marina Porobic