Title: The Lightness of Being

Photographer/s: Alinka Echeverria

Date of publication: 2008

Place of publication: New York

Dimensions: 7”x9”

Edition size: 30

Type of binding: none

Type of paper: Photographic paper

Type of printing: Ink jet pigment printing

Printer: Epson 4200

Publisher: Self-published

Designer: Carlton DeWoody

Category: artist book

Price: $100

Summary: The Lightness of Being 2008 – photographs and video

This work is an exploration of water as an environment and of human perception of movement. As the sole underwater spectator, the ceremonies of synchronized swimming practices became for me a tableau vivant rich in symbolism; a metaphor for liberation from earthly constraints and emancipation from physical and psychological barriers. Usually hidden from view, the underwater motion captured in my images challenge our perception of human movement, and symbolically, of human capacity. The swimmers’ discipline and experience underwater are an investigation of the laws of physics, they dominate this other world by understanding their relationship to this element and embracing its hostility, thereby overcoming it and giving way to the wonders of buoyancy and healing. This seeming contradiction is ever present in humanity’s relationship to water and representative of the tension between life and death that defines our existence as human beings.

Date and place of birth of photographer/s: 11/07/81 Mexico City

Website: http://www.alinkaecheverria.com/

Book link: http://www.alinkaecheverria.com/

Donated by: Alinka Echeverria

iPL Notes: This book was donated at the Flash Forward Festival, Toronto, October 6-10, 2010.

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