Transitions Later Before

In this series of photographs I am interested in the intersection of the real world and illusion. I am photographing people in situations where their communication worlds have become virtual experiences, where only a fine line separates the real from the surreal. The young women interact with books either in their traditional printed form, digital formats or in their dismembered state. I incorporate other writing systems such as tattoos, symbols, letters, numbers, words and graffiti.  My creative process includes creating many of the objects seen in my photographs, such as the masks, hats, dresses, little books, blindfolds, telescopes and other pieces.  Found objects are also part of the scenes which I build to tell the story. In the words of Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, “every single thing becomes a word in a language that “Someone or Something”, night and day, writes down in a never-ending scribble, which is the history of the world.” In the non-real universe of my photographs, where the borders of time and space are eliminated, I explore enigma, happy accident and the perpetual puzzling moment intertwined with secret thoughts and ideas. 

©Karin Hillmer, 2014