Simo Arshara

I look at bark up close — very close — and I find hidden creatures there. I don't invent them: I reveal them. They're already there, in the textures, the imperfections, the shapes that nature creates for no particular reason. The macro world fascinates me for exactly this reason: get a little closer and what seemed like just a surface becomes a landscape, a presence, a small universe. I love discovering how much beauty there is in the smallest things, in details that usually go unnoticed.

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PROCESS

Everything starts with the macro shot: bark, organic surfaces, details that barely exist to the naked eye. From there begins the part I love most. I work on the images creating reflections, symmetries and mirror duplications — sometimes multiple ones — until the original texture slowly begins to transform. And that's exactly where something happens. Hidden forms start to emerge: faces, presences, creatures that seem to belong to suspended worlds, almost fairytale-like or fantastical. I never really decide what should appear. I only create the conditions for it to show itself. Colour and light come last, and that's where the image finds its atmosphere, its depth and its balance.

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CONCEPT

Nature contains much more than what we see at first glance. Sometimes you just need to change your distance, slow down, look more carefully — and suddenly something reveals itself. This project was born from that thin threshold between matter and imagination. It continues to evolve every time I encounter a new surface to explore.