Reto Camenisch is a wanderer, and his photographs are the result of his loosely guided exploration of the tortuous paths of human life.

While in the 90s he focused on taking pictures of people who crossed his path, or on the musical narration of landscapes and their inhabitats, he has been working for the last ten years on a project entitled ‘The Cycle of Time’. These prints on baryt-paper, done with a large format Polaroid, speak their own language. Chemical residues from the printing process mysteriously frame the pictures, making them appear as windows on the world.

By wandering through different landscapes for months on end, Reto Camenisch captures their essence. Regardless of whether the landscapes are in his homeland, the Bernese Oberland, or foreign countries, they seem at once familiar and disconnected from reality and time. With hardly a sign of human intervention, the photographs tell stories that may be elaborated by the viewer’s own thoughts. Monumental in size, they offer small details such as stones or trees greater importance and convey a sense of time’s slow passage.

For his most recent works the artist has chosen to give up the Polaroid technique in favour of the classic large format four-by-five camera. From March till October 2009 he travelled through Northern India, Nepal and Tibet, places where verticals and horizontals are constantly interacting. The photographs he took are combined under the title ‘Mountains, Pilgrims. Places’, composing a synthesis of earlier cycles and recent works. He accompanied people on their pilgrimage, much as they accompanied him on his journey. The landscape became a mirror-like dialog partner in which he could experience his human existence in a physical as well as contemplative way. The close-ups of stone formations resemble fractals, seeming simultaneously light yet monumental as well. The interaction of light, shadow and clouds make the landscapes appear to be wonderful sets for a vast dream-world theatre.

Bernhard Bischoff, September 2010