Shadows 2016

Alfred Freddy Krupa made this photograph, Shadows, which measures 50 by 70 centimetres. It's a black and white image, quite contrast-y, and what I immediately clock is the stark division of light and dark. The shadows cast by the trees create these bold vertical stripes across the landscape. It's almost like Krupa is painting with light here, blocking it out in strips to create this pattern. The texture is so interesting too. Up close, you can see the individual blades of grass, each one distinct. Then there's the smooth, almost ethereal quality of the light as it filters through the trees. It feels like a conversation between sharpness and softness, between the solid and the ephemeral. It reminds me of Bernd and Hilla Becher's photography of industrial structures, but with a much more organic feel. Art, like shadows, is always shifting, open to new interpretations.