Symbols and rituals have long been part of human nature as a bridge to access what our senses cannot. Being a symbolic surface, photographs reflect in a similar nature – they take us to a place where we can contemplate the idea that mystery needs knowledge, and knowledge needs mystery.

I want to share some photographs from my series Closed Eyes and Instead of showing you the whole series I will try something different and add a short text to each photograph.

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Samsø, a small island in central Denmark, is home to a well of oak dating back to the Bronze Age. Folklore has told us that this well has healing powers, attracting people from all over, especially the ill. On Walpurgis Night and Midsummer’s Eve, the well’s power is said to be the strongest.

Eva is one of the latest subjects I’ve photographed for this project. I wanted to add a photograph that reflected on the idea of the title. It goes back to mythology where stories are told of people who lived without the sense of a sight could sense other things we couldn’t. I researched and found out about Eva who lived a couple of hours from me, she turned out to be one of the most inspiring persons I’ve met.

This photograph is staged in a studio having a real black serpent form a circle on some white rocks. It is inspired by the symbol of Ouroboros, one of the most used ancient symbols. Depicting the infinite cycle of destruction and regeneration, life and death.

This photograph is my first attempt with rock balancing, which is an age-old discipline in which rocks are naturally balanced on top of one another without the help of other elements. I was drawn to this meditative practice that looks like magic to the eye.

Reflecting on the photograph as a symbolic surface I was interested in the negative as an inverted photograph, which made me photograph a white serpent on black rocks.

This photograph is inspired from the element of fire and how a photograph only exists with the help from a light source. I’m often drawn to the oldest, most universal ideas, such as the four elements and light vs. dark.

Cup marks are rounded grooves carved in stones and are said to be some of the first symbolic expressions made by humans. Their meaning is uncertain, but researchers have been interpreted them as a symbol of female fertility or a representation of the sun.