3
3 -Win Labuda “Shepherdess in Palestine“,
Palestine, 1980
creatures. The individual stations of this journey allow the viewer to
pause at selected positions which were significant for the development of
mankind, to which you assign six pictorial stations. The time of
progressing human history, of evolution, of cosmology is our direct
experience of the world. With it is also understood the search for its
beginning.
In the station “Beginning of Time“ three scenarios determine the
pictorial content: first the elements sky, land and sea, next the horizon
pictures, in which heaven and earth touch, and the great stone forma-
tions. These photographs suggest a seemingly low degree of complexity
and allow the viewer associations with the four elements of the Greeks:
fire, water air and earth. They represent the philosophical origin of
today’s understanding of the structure of matter. The setting sun stands
for fire and leads the viewer into the cosmos. With this metaphor he
becomes aware that our world is highly complex. Your photograph
“Evening Sound 1“ from 2006 is representative for this.
To understand the station “People Today“– or rather, my interpretation of
it – I would like to briefly reflect on into the concept of “mythos“, which is
opposed to what is meant as “logos“ [8]. “Mythos“ is the telling of ficti-
tious stories, and “logos“ is the verifiable statement. Myths can be
encountered everywhere: the biblical myth of creation or the “big bang”
as myth of the origin of the world. Myths always reflect people’s spiritual
state and the social conditions of their time. The myth reveals the relati-
onship of things by telling a story. Precisely that is what each of your
photographs is about: Myth – according to the philosopher Georg Picht
[9] (1913-1982) – is for us lost in the depths; it only surfaces again in the
form of art, for instance in your photographic work.
The station “People Today” portrays individuals within their respective
cultural, social and political context. It shows the individuality, aura and
dignity of the individual. The two photographs “Shepherdess in
Palestine” and “Going to Prayer” are exemplary for this concern.
I will now discuss the photographs of the station “Pictures and Signs“:
Towards the middle of the 10th century Shabbetai Donnolo wrote in the
Sefer Hakhmoni (one of the oldest preserved commentaries to the Sefer
Yetzirah, the Book of Creation, which is the oldest independent work
handed down of the Kabbalah [10]): “During the 2000 years before
creation, the Holy, blessed be He, was delighting in the secrets of the
letters. He put them together, He made them circle, He combined them
in a single sentence, He turned all 22 of them forward and backward. He
compiled them to form complete sentences, half sentences, thirds of
sentences. He reversed the sentences, united them, separated them and
gave them a different form. He did the same with the single letters with
the vowel punctuation as well. He counted their number until it was
complete. These were the actions of the Holy, blessed be He, when He
decided to create the world with His own word and by pronouncing His
own great and awesome name.“ In this representation of God, who
passes his time with letters in order to use them to create the universe,
the most inward essence of the Old Testament idea of script is revealed
with extraordinary power of suggestion. Without the development of
signs, no script is possible: Without pictures and signs, no progress of
civilisation is possible.
4 -Win Labuda “Going to Prayer“,
Jerusalem, 1980
