honorable mention
Olympe Tits belgium
title
NOW
The NOW is an observation of yourself. The feeling that you are consciously present at that moment. Because of our society, the NOW is often denied, skipped. Our projection to the future and our pain from the past are today's fear. Yet we can tear ourselves away from the past and the future, by being there. By being in the NOW. By not listening to our thoughts.
My experiences as a dancer taught me how to be for a moment in the NOW. It taught me to experience silence. Being in the NOW when dancing means that my body takes over. A dancing body that is in the conscious now can feel the impulses of the environment around it. Because of this it creates unconsciousness movements. By dancing the mind stops thinking. And so, everyone experiences the beautiful and rare moments of the NOW in their own way. The images of this project are showing a body and mind that are completely surrendered to the NOW. By dancing. A body that speaks from an empty mind.
The miraculous landscapes of Iceland have been part of the process to the NOW. We all know the feeling when we are perplexed by beauty. Often an indescribable feeling. A moment that brings us satisfaction.
Dance recorded by photography. Dance as a research to the NOW. Then pictured.
She combines this with a life as a contemporary dancer, teaching at the Royal Ballet school of Antwerp and choreographing for dance-theatre pieces. In 2012, she began taking photographs. And this need to explore different disciplines is a core motivation, helping her understand more of the world around us.
Olympe’s dance experience helps her to achieve a different vision in photography. Through dance, she learned the aesthetics of the body in space: how movement can narrate stories, how to communicate with body’s angles and shapes, and how to express feelings in an abstract way.
Her work is an ode to the physical reality and femininity. How can we feel emotions through the infinite expressions of human form, through vibrant colors, and through the exploration of universal ideas? Always working with women, it is in staged photography, exploring such questions that Olympe finds her stride. Her pictures strive to illustrate the inescapable search for self-discovery and identity; and through her work she highlights that every human body carries a story with it.
The focus is on the body in space, the gesture, the colors and clothes, the setting and the emotion their combined atmosphere creates. Choreography here evolves into a still life of abandoned gestures - sometimes fragile, sometimes absurd - quietly forming an enchanting story. It is then left to the viewers to search and feel for the deep emotions hidden within her character’s bodies.
back to gallery
entry description
With this project, I want to emphasize the conscious NOW.The NOW is an observation of yourself. The feeling that you are consciously present at that moment. Because of our society, the NOW is often denied, skipped. Our projection to the future and our pain from the past are today's fear. Yet we can tear ourselves away from the past and the future, by being there. By being in the NOW. By not listening to our thoughts.
My experiences as a dancer taught me how to be for a moment in the NOW. It taught me to experience silence. Being in the NOW when dancing means that my body takes over. A dancing body that is in the conscious now can feel the impulses of the environment around it. Because of this it creates unconsciousness movements. By dancing the mind stops thinking. And so, everyone experiences the beautiful and rare moments of the NOW in their own way. The images of this project are showing a body and mind that are completely surrendered to the NOW. By dancing. A body that speaks from an empty mind.
The miraculous landscapes of Iceland have been part of the process to the NOW. We all know the feeling when we are perplexed by beauty. Often an indescribable feeling. A moment that brings us satisfaction.
Dance recorded by photography. Dance as a research to the NOW. Then pictured.
about the photographer
Olympe Tits is a self-taught photographer. Born in Marseille, 3rd April 1992, she has now settled in Antwerp, Belgium.She combines this with a life as a contemporary dancer, teaching at the Royal Ballet school of Antwerp and choreographing for dance-theatre pieces. In 2012, she began taking photographs. And this need to explore different disciplines is a core motivation, helping her understand more of the world around us.
Olympe’s dance experience helps her to achieve a different vision in photography. Through dance, she learned the aesthetics of the body in space: how movement can narrate stories, how to communicate with body’s angles and shapes, and how to express feelings in an abstract way.
Her work is an ode to the physical reality and femininity. How can we feel emotions through the infinite expressions of human form, through vibrant colors, and through the exploration of universal ideas? Always working with women, it is in staged photography, exploring such questions that Olympe finds her stride. Her pictures strive to illustrate the inescapable search for self-discovery and identity; and through her work she highlights that every human body carries a story with it.
The focus is on the body in space, the gesture, the colors and clothes, the setting and the emotion their combined atmosphere creates. Choreography here evolves into a still life of abandoned gestures - sometimes fragile, sometimes absurd - quietly forming an enchanting story. It is then left to the viewers to search and feel for the deep emotions hidden within her character’s bodies.
back to gallery
