You can't enter the same river twice, Francisco Gonzalez Camacho

Blank Verse, Maria Siorba

Among the Interstices, Xinshuo Zhuo

Children of the golden Sun, Susann Carmen Jagodzińska

During the selection of photographic works for the Open-Ended theme this time, I noticed several submissions featuring the Pictorial style. A few of these pieces were chosen for publication in the magazine, and some also made it as finalists, which makes me wonder if I am starting to develop a genuine appreciation for this genre.

Pictorial photography is a style that often focuses on the mood of the image and careful post-processing techniques to distort reality into something beautiful and dreamlike. It tends to remove the deeper context of the subject matter, showing instead a beauty derived from extensive darkroom editing and modern tools like Photoshop. This approach places heavy emphasis on the formal procedures of the photographic process both before and after capturing the image.

Removing these contexts is a way to select and highlight a sense of beauty and truth that does not come from the sharpness of a lens or the reality of the physical world, which is what modernism usually aims to do. Instead, it is a truth that comes from the artist's mind, thoughts, and deep emotions. At the same time, this can suggest a sense of indifference towards the changes happening in the surrounding society or even towards the subjects being photographed. It appears as though there is a desire to freeze everything in place so it can remain forever in the beloved photograph.

This type of freezing seems to be a key ingredient in the desire to conserve everything around us, whether it is society, culture, or people's lives. This leads to the creation of group traditions, rules, and the awarding of titles, which people with high social readiness often understand very well. This branch of photographic art has remained popular continuously among these privileged groups, even though its original roots dried up in the early 20th century. This decline was caused by the incoming wave of modernism and the harsh reality of World War I, which made people in the postwar era less interested in the beauty and happiness presented by this style of photography.

The works in the Open-Ended theme may not be highly conservative in that sense, but the artists borrow visual elements and techniques to explore deeper narratives about nature, humanity, and abstraction. For example, the project You Can't Enter the Same River Twice by Francisco Gonzalez Camacho captures the nature of impermanence. He shows the twisted and broken forms of nature eroded by the power of water, representing the transition of things that usually have no witnesses, yet the artist steps in to observe these phenomena.

Blank Verse by Maria Siorba is another work that has a noticeable Pictorial quality. It features both black and white and color images, along with staged scenes that spread a distinct emotional atmosphere throughout the entire series. The project explores the observation of highly ambiguous human relationships, and Maria asks an important question:

"How can we understand others when their experiences are completely inaccessible?" 

In Among the Interstices, Xinshuo Zhuo uses classic photographic aesthetics to represent the artist's emotions, memories, and past wounds. This is expressed through the discontinuity of objects and places, creating black or white gaps that continuously interact with our minds. Just like being triggered by a familiar scent or sound from the past, it pulls us deep into those empty hollows.

Another project with a very strong Pictorial style is Children of the Golden Sun by Susann Carmen Jagodzińska, a Polish artist whose work became a finalist. Susann created a series of images that express her imagination through photographic art, using her daughter to represent the overlapping timeline of a grandmother, a mother, and a daughter. Her grandmother suffered emotional trauma from seeing her sister killed in World War II, and this pain was passed down to her mother. Susann became aware of this chain when she had her own child. The artwork overlaps and blends images of her daughter with other elements, creating strange and dreamlike layered pictures that look like antique Pictorial photographs. However, Susann takes this Pictorial-like work far beyond the enchanting images presented in front of us.

"Past, present, and future merge and coexist in one body.
The grandmother, mother, and daughter are all incarnated in the same body.
Personal, ancestral, and collective pain are expressed through her body."

Their Pictorial photography has moved beyond the common and repetitive subjects that often bring awards and titles to those who enjoy creating them. This branch of art does not have to restrict itself to freezing a peaceful and glorious past, as it can revolve with the world and pay attention to its surroundings and changes. This contemporary approach does not devalue the aesthetics of this photography branch or degrade its sacredness. Instead, it promotes a fresh and open state, clears away criticisms, and returns greatness to this field of photographic art once again.