Grey Matter Is a photographic investigation into the ideas behind musical stimuli, cognition and the intrinsic feelings stimulated by an affective musical response.
The project began in winter, during solitary walks through the forest at night. With music playing on a continuous loop through my headphones. these excursions became an ongoing process. At the time, I was beginning to process the news of my father’s serious illness. The woodland became a space of solitude and escape—a place with few interruptions, where I could drift into thought.
Alone in thought, I wandered the dark forest, searching for imagery inspired by the music. As the landscape grew familiar, my focus on creating images faded, and I became lost in both the wilderness and my thoughts. The process shifted into escapism, helping me confront not only the physical darkness but the emotional one within.
During my first visits, my mind was heavy with emotion, blurring the line between thought and creation. I captured images that felt disconnected, images that felt like fleeting flashes of light in the darkness—images unplanned and temporary.
After my father passed away, my state of mind changed. Consequently so did my relationship to the music. The sounds that once accompanied me now carried the weight of memory and grief, altering the way I experienced both the forest and my earlier work. I felt the work I had created was obsolete, as I had become disengaged from both the imagery and the original concept. Returning to the familiar forest a year later, I approached it with new expectations. It became necessary to reinterpret the landscape and create images more intuitively. I aimed to reveal the forest and illuminate its darkness while tapping into the deep emotions I had experienced and was still feeling. I wanted the discoveries themselves to hold as much importance as the process. This was exploration with purpose. I focused on my connection to the landscape, drawing on sensory memories and the personal significance that the music had come to hold.
This work began as an exploration of sound and landscape but little did I know that it would evolve into a profound journey of self-exploration, grief, and emotional healing.
Music: Andrew Bird. Beyond the valley of the three white horses