Conceptual nominee

The photographic series „Encounters” presents a compelling engagement with the threshold
between life and death, a theme that touches upon both the deepest existential fears and the
sublime mysteries of human existence. These photographs conjure a dark and poetic vision of
the in-between world – that elusive, transitory space, still profoundly shaped by our cultural and
psychological conceptions of death and the afterlife. In „Encounters”, this space is negotiated
through the deliberate use of blur as a visual device, a technique that is not merely formal but
deeply reflective on the nature of perception and memory in this liminal zone.

For the attentive viewer, „Encounters” offers a profound and moving exploration of the great
questions of human existence – questions about the origin, the course, and the end of life. It is a
work that transcends conventional boundaries between photography and philosophy, inviting
the viewer to lose themselves in the blur and simultaneously seek within it.

Yaro Zarny is a master of blur. In a world
dominated by ever sharper and more
detailed images, he has chosen a radically
different approach, inviting the viewer to
detach from the perfection of technique and
enter a new dimension of perception.

His works often do not arise from the
perfect capture of a moment, but from a
conscious distortion of reality, plunging into
the space between the visible and the
invisible, the definable and the undefinable.
Blur is used as a deliberately employed
artistic tool that opens up space for free
associations and interpretations.

His images often resemble paintings,
oscillating between the realms of
photography and painting. This blur strips
the image of clear contours, allowing the
objects to melt into a fluid state. Forms
dissolve, details fade, and the viewer’s gaze
is reduced to the essential – to the feeling,
the mood, the atmosphere the artist seeks
to convey. In his work, the visible is not
merely captured by the camera but
transposed into a poetic space.