Icefishers is a body of work that explores man’s exploration and contemplation of a winter landscape that is reduced to two elements: snow and sky. In Canada, where this project was photographed, ice fishing is a very popular sport commonly practiced on winter weekends. With arctic temperatures, fishing becomes less about the actual catching of fish but more about endurance. It could be hours until the first fish is caught – which leaves a lot of time for contemplation and reflection. Ironically, this rather mannish sport is encouraging a type of soul searching similar to meditation. The latter is what ultimately drew me to the icefishers.
The images are purposefully overexposed to blur the difference between snow and sky, bottom and top, the human and the sublime. Otherwise, only few reoccurring reference points are left for the viewer to recognize that these images are indeed from this world: snowmobiles, fishing utensils, ogres and of course the hole in the water usually placed in the centre. It might transpire to the viewer that Icefishers is also about humanity struggling to fight the forces of natures and by doing so becoming one with it.