© Mikael Kennedy, from the series Odysseus
© Mikael Kennedy, from the series OdysseusIn the classical myth of the Odyssey, Odysseus wants only to return home; to his wife and children, to his house and his lands. Odysseus is held captive at the whim of the gods and what was intended to be a short and simple voyage becomes a perilous and challenging journey.
The story presented here in this collection of photographs begins in the midst of the journey. There is no home to start from; “home” is an idealized vision, a utopia, a goal. The photographs that make up The Odysseus, in their searching and longing, manifest the journey within a brooding of death and isolation. The photographs are a reflection on the intangible emotions of lack, absence, and desire: The aching call to home. The landscapes alternate between desolate and bleak, to towering over the frame, at both times illustrating the smallness of the individual and the magnitude of the journey. The lone figures that sparingly appear in the frame are encased in the landscape around them; as if the gods themselves were closing in the corners of the world while stretching out the distances between. In the world created here we wander through a fog, our vision obscured by the branches, our sight lost in the sun, in this is a desire to find home.”
Mikael Kennedy
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