Icarus
In the series "Icarus," I seek to explore the interplay of distance, light and shadow, that we find in the inverted perspective of viewing our world from above. Icarus, the Greek mythological figure who dared to fly too close to the sun, is an apt symbol for the daring attempt to perceive the world from an unusual perspective - that of a bird, a god, or a drone.
Drawing inspiration from Man Ray’s "Élevage de poussière," I sought to allow the subject matter to create its own form, and the cityscape of Auckland, captured from the Sky Tower, does indeed rise like dust from the earth. The experience of shooting from a high vantage point, with no intermediary device such as a drone, created a sense of immediate connection with the environment, tempered by the omnipresent reminder of distance and height.
In the late afternoon of Auckland, the lengthening shadows cast an eerie, dreamlike quality over the city, making the mundane structures appear as architectural giants silently conversing with the setting sun. The shadows, magnified by the angle of the sun in the southern hemisphere, became entities of their own, contributing as much to the composition as the buildings and streets themselves.
The "Icarus" series is thus not merely a collection of aerial images but a journey into the heart of perception, experience, and the intertwining of culture and geography. Each frame serves as an invitation to the viewer to take flight and to see the world anew, even if it means risking flying too close to the sun.
— Moe Louanjli, July 2001.