The Traveller
My ongoing series ”The Traveller“ started in March 2010 on a tour with friends when we found an old brown suitcase in a bunch of bulk waste on the street. This old suitcase, and the end-of-time-feeling of the partially abandoned village where we found the suitcase, fueled my imagination of the figure of a traveller through time, who finds himself in various, sometimes odd situations. In order to serve as a connecting element in a series of pictures, the traveller required a high recognition value, in particular since he often appears only as a small eye-catcher. So I created the archetypal and nostalgic figure of a man wearing a suit and hat, who carries a suitcase and an umbrella. For convenience the protagonist is myself, since this model is always available. All pictures were taken using an interval self-timer. I started the series arranging settings in the context of travel and traffic. Soon I broadened the scope of the term ”travel“ to being on the way in unusual places, or through past times. The fact that my traveller usually finds himself somehow out-of-place in his surrounding creates suspense. Since he always keeps his composure even in bizarre situations, the pictures often acquire a comical aspect which keeps the photos sticking in the mind of the viewer. Although sometimes only a small element, ”The Traveller“ is always the eye-catcher in the photo, and enhances the attention of the viewer for the scenery in which he is acting. The individual images of the series are in no consecutive sequence. Each image should tell its own story and evoke different emotions in the viewer.
