Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience - Melting Snow #28, 2020, 100x150 cm, edition 3+2 A.P., fine-art print on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag
Alpine View - Topographies of Transience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Dislocations #2, from the Series Alpine View, 2023, 68x100 cm, edition 3 + 2 A.P., fineart print on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag Ultra Smooth
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience - Dark Snow #43, 2019, 50x70 cm, edition 3+2 A.P., fine art print on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag
Alpine View - Topographies of Transience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Dislocations #1, from the series Alpine View, 2023, 85x65 cm, edition 3 + 2 A.P., Fineart Print on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag Ultra Smooth
Alpine View - Melting Snow | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience - Melting Snow #17, 2019, 70x100 cm, edition 3+2 A.P., C-Print on Kodak Endura matte
Alpine View - Topographies of Transience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Dislocations #4, from the series Alpine View, 2023, 70x50 cm, edition 3 + 2 A.P., fineart print on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag Ultra Smooth
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience - Melting Snow #34, 2020, 100x150 cm, edition 3+2 A.P., fine art print on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience - Wrapping #44, 2019, 50x70 cm, edition 3+2 A.P., fine art print on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience - Melting Snow #35, 2020, 100x150 cm, edition 3+2 A.P., fine art print on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience - Autumn Snow #7, 2021, 29x42 cm, edition 3+2 A.P., C-Print on Kodak Endura Premier matte
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience - Melting Snow #27, 2020, 100x150 cm, edition 3+2 A.P., fine art print on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience - Autumn Snow #40, 2020, 29x42 cm, edition 3+2 A.P., C-print on Kodak Endura matte
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience #45, 2022, 50x70 cm, edition 3+2 A.P., fine art print on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag
Alpine View - Topographies of Transience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Dislocations #3, from the series Alpine View, 2023, 85x65 cm, edition 3 + 2 A.P., fineart print on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag Ultra Smooth
Alpine View - Topographies of Transience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience - Melting Snow #39, 2020, 70x100 cm, edition 3+2 A.P., fine art print on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag
Alpine View - Topographies of Transience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Meltig Snow from the Alpine View series, 2021, 50x70 cm, edition 3 + 2 A.P., fineart print on Hahnemuehle Baryta matt
Alpine View - Melting Snow | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience - Silent Red #14, 2019, 40x60 cm, edition 3+2 A.P., C-Print on Kodak Endura Premier matte
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience - Melting Snow #32, 2020, 100x150 cm, edition 3+2 A.P., fine art print on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag
Alpine View - Topographies of Transience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience - Autumn Snow #18, 2018, 22x32 cm, edition 3+2 A.P., C-Print on Kodak Endura Premier matte
Alpine View - Topographies of Transience | Yvonne Oswald Photography
Alpine View - Topographies of Transcience #47, 2014, 22x32 cm, edition 3+2 A.P., C-Print on Kodak Endura Premier matte

ALPINE VIEW

Topographies of Transience

Topographies of Transience from my long-running series Alpine View examines sections of alpine landscapes as a symbol of the relationship between human and nature, and, through the forced decoupling of the once intimate relationship, points to the impending destruction of both.

Rapidly changing details of a mountain landscape, peculiar sculptures formed by melting snow, late afternoon long sharp blue shadows on mountain ridges, clouds seemingly clinging to a rock face, patches of hard green grass on wet blue rocks, mist softening a slope or early snow accentuating the structure of a mountain forest. Bizarre white patches of snow, silent red, liquefied structures as a synonym of emptiness, as a question of what lies hidden underneath, what will change and above all as an unnoticed symbol of silence.

 

Abstract Landscape Motivs transformed into new closed Images

 

All these motifs are transformed into new closed images which, precisely through their isolation and loss of relationship to their surroundings, point to their detailed beauty and at the same time their fragility and thus, in relation to humanity, to the double bond, the inseparable community of nature and man and their progressive decoupling.

The loss of silence, the arrogance of building interventions for the benefit of mass tourism, the disappearance of cultural circles, ghostly villages outside the tourist seasons, the retreat of glaciers and the use of nature as a backdrop for self-expression. Continuous interventions in vulnerable cultural and alpine landscapes that have evolved over thousands of years are now being labelled as the 'New Green Deal' and, according to Robert Habeck (The Greens, Germany), are supposed to end the 'war of the economy against nature'.

 

War of the economy against Nature

 

But isn't this cited 'war of the economy against nature' also a war against people? And will its intended termination by means of economics push the ever more loudly aspired transhumanism, and thus the now so evident aspired absolute control of humanity, much faster forward? And wouldn't this New Green Deal thus push the exploitation of human beings, equal to the exploitation of nature, ever further?

Transformations of nature through human intervention have always existed; the idea of an 'intact' nature, an untouched landscape, is unreal. However, the fact that the hyper-capitalism of recent years has further accelerated an extreme development of (alpine) landscapes and that the years 2020/22 revealed many of these interventions as pointless and useless is now, in retrospect, more obvious than ever.

 

Harmonious community between humans and Nature

 

The question we must all ask ourselves is: do we actually want nature? Or just a nicely prepared stage for our self-expression?

In today's situation, shouldn't we urgently endorse Alberto Acosta's view that: 'If the exploitation of nature for the purpose of accumulating capital is to be overcome, there is all the more reason to leave the exploitation of human beings behind us. We will have to recognise that we humans, as beings of nature, are not isolated individuals, that we are part of a community, that we are ultimately community. Communities, peoples, nations and countries should be in a harmonious relationship with each other. This double connectedness - with nature and in community - requires us to take that civilising step by which human rights and the rights of nature are fully recognised and valid.' (Buen Vivir, 2015)