Forest: Landscapes of Remembrance

Michael Lange

Michael Lange’s project Wald: Landschaften der Erinnerung (Forest: Landscapes of Remembrance) was created in the forests of Germany over a period of three years. The photographs reflect the artist’s experiences of landscapes in twilight. They manifest the fact that ‘landscapes are culture before they are nature, constructs of the imagination projected onto wood and water and rock’ (Simon Schama). People create landscapes; it is only as a result of the artist’s perception, of his way of looking at a multitude of elements such as trees, bushes, moss, light and weather, that a picture is created. The crucial effect of this dynamic process is the integration of the individual elements into an effective pictorial structure. Michael Lange achieves this by bringing two different levels into harmony: nature as it is experienced and landscapes as they are remembered. The photographs in the Wald cycle are permeated by great tranquillity and pacify the viewer. They create a connection to the inner space of silence, which always exists and which we all carry within ourselves, but which is often buried under the eventful experiences of day-to-day life.