Matjaž Krivic: The Lines We Draw

The lines we draw and the traces we leave behind in the world are diverse. Some are gently embedded in the boundless and unbroken cycle of nature's life, others cause incurable wounds and irreversible damage. Many times, one overlaps with the other, making them more intertwined than is comprehensible to man. All of this is the subject of Matjaž Krivic's photographic exhibition, The Lines We Draw, but above all, the question of perspective is at the forefront.

 

Krivic, an internationally renowned and award-winning documentary photographer, moves into the field of abstraction with the motifs of the photographs he presents in the exhibition, but remains faithful to the themes of nature conservation and the environment. With the interplay of vivid colours, regular geometric figures and organic patterns, it is often unclear at first glance – or even at all – what we are looking at. It is only when the viewer gets closer to the image that they recognise the immensity of the sky, the sharpness of the rock, the symmetrical orderliness of the site, the soft curves of the shore and the varied traces of life. The photographs take their inspiration from the infinite manifestations of nature, which follow the same patterns at both micro and macro levels. You could be looking not at a river delta, but at a branching blood vessel, a canopy of trees or the iris of an eye. Krivic takes the vantage point of a distant observer, who could simultaneously be the viewer with a magnifying glass, and lets us see the world as he sees it. Do we see ourselves in it, and if we do, do we recognise ourselves?

 

Confined to the smallness of the human microcosm, we rarely realise how enormous the impact our lives have on the planet is. The traces we leave behind, the consequences of our actions, choices and purchases, fuelled by the phantasm of endless spending, are often reflected not only in our immediate surroundings, but also – literally – on the other side of the world. In the pursuit of its own security and comfort, the West is stretching out its tentacles and, incidentally, sacrificing entire ecosystems, biodiversity and the established social structures of the Global South, more often than not hidden from our eyes. Where do we choose to draw the line? The ivory towers in which we have enclosed ourselves are crumbling before our eyes; we have crossed a line and upset delicate balances. Increasingly, even the untouchable West is impacted by natural disasters. All we have left are wilderness and man, damaged and wounded, searching for their new balance.

 

With his radical simplicity and distinctive aesthetic, which he has nurtured and developed for more than twenty-five years of his career, Matjaž Krivic constantly explores the intersections between contemporary and documentary photography. With his current exhibition, he is discovering previously unseen viewpoints that bring new perspectives in front of the viewer. Krivic looks for beauty in the vast plains of Bolivia and its ecosystems, which are drastically threatened by the extraction of lithium for the so-called green energy, and in the glacial crevasses of one of Iceland's volcanoes, which are growing unstoppably due to the warming of the atmosphere as a consequence of the accumulation of greenhouse gasses. The photographer is aware of the complexity of the state of the world and knows that there are no simple solutions to it. At the same time, he warns against apathy and feigned helplessness, and invites us to reflect on the role we play and the trail we leave behind. Is it a line that divides or connects?