What you see, if you don’t just look

No one is free of prejudice. Sean Eccard is burdened by this. With his photographic collages, the German artist wants to break up rehearsed ways of seeing and show what we recognize when we don‘t just take a cursory glance. His multi-layered photographs are created in a process by very personal interviews, dense portrait photographs, graphic elements, through deconstruction and reconstruction. For his pittura oscura, Sean interviewed people from different cultures and ages. He wanted to get to know them as closely as possible. Through this approach, he developed a feeling for the people. This enabled him to focus on his protagonists with a very personal look. In order to bring the uniqueness of his interlocutors closer to the viewer, he deconstructs the portraits, breaking them down to what seems particularly worth telling. The delicate letters documenting parts of the personal conversations are witnesses to intimate details: they speak of experiences, fears, happy moments, and what is important to those portrayed. Our focus changes as we look at these images. Like a visual muscle that switches from distance to close-up vision, recognition takes time. The view of the person sharpens. The new view opens up unexpected insights. Insights that reveal the inner beauty of the person portrayed. Sean succeeds in leading us away from just looking. In doing so, he forces us to question all the clichéd classifications that can result from the observation of a purely external appearance. Condensed, he presents personal elements surprisingly, unusually composed, breaking the frame. Approach and a recognition of the people become possible. First step to counter prejudices.