Photographer Took Nocturnal Images Of Animal Skulls

Michal Korta, photographer from Krakow, Poland, for the last two years has photographed 27 skulls from different species as a part of the series called The Shadow Line.

“I found it when I was out walking, and brought it home. It lay in the barn for several months before I took the first photograph of it. The next ones came by themselves, as if I had sharpened my faculties and started to notice a reality I hadn’t been seeing before.

It all started with that one skull.

I would find them in the woods, in roadside ditches, in the attic. Friends would bring round ones they’d found, or tell me where they’d seen one… that’s synchronicity, I guess.

It is these ones found outdoors that I value the most, with flaws, or showing traces of decay, or with remains of organic matter still on them. They are the ones that show the passage of time most clearly.

My skulls are laid out on the table in front of me, cheek by jowl, as it were. At first I had trouble imagining the animals they came from. Experts can identify them at first glance, interpreting the various anatomical details as if reading a book and matching the names of the creatures to their pictures. I’m learning slowly. I imagine the skin stretched smooth over the skull, the thick hair, the alert, black eyes and moist nose. I guess at how it was joined to the spine, and how its motor system worked. I take note of the similarities between certain species. The skull of a dog is similar to that of a fox or a badger, but the skull of a beaver or a turtle are evidence of completely different evolutionary paths. For a while I wanted to call this cycle Darwin.

Naked bone. The skull, naked bone, is the only thing that remains. As soon as we lie dead we are equal. There is no religion, no wealth, no social status. Just naked bone. The question arises: is our human supremacy legitimate?

I explore the senses of animals, like an animal myself, crouching in the dark. I simulate the universal language of all species. Language without words.”

The images are exhibited from 20 January till 24 of February in Galeria Piekary in Poznan, Poland. You can see selected images of skulls, which are accompanied by grainy images of wild animals, like the albino fallow deer in the wood. The skull images are 110×160 cm high, and are limited edition of 3+1 AP.

No animals were harmed during this project.

www.michalkorta.com

www.galeria-piekary.com.pl

More info: michalkorta.com