Viktor Kostenko

I work without intellectualising anything I do, observing everything that happens and letting myself be guided by instinct. My first significant work was ‘Nameless Mountain’. For ten days, I played with the light without looking for anything in particular, allowing myself to be surprised by each appearance. When the first mountain manifested itself, I felt that I had transcended for an instant.

Since then, I have not stopped photographing inwards, aware that what I am is hidden and needs introspection to be understood. As the themes were appearing, I knew that I was feeling close to the horizon, the mountain, the rock, the sea and the cloud. Like little haikus that need to be read out of time, my voice emerges in the laboratory following the cadence of the chemical process. Being in contact with analogue techniques has opened my research so that I can force the concept of mimesis or representation of reality. Because beyond what we are capable of seeing or recognising, there is something that demands our attention. The photograph emerging under the red light reveals a state of being, a sacred moment that I feel compelled to explore through experimentation.

Photography is a mystery that teaches me the importance of having one’s own gaze, which, in my case, goes beyond aesthetics. This way, every image that emerges from the darkness is a question I ask myself to keep searching.