Gazes ("Blicke")
Photographs by
Helmut Haase
«SICHTBAR:UNSICHTBAR»
(«VISIBLE:INVISIBLE»)
Art-Center-Dreieich
10. & 11. May 2025
11:00 — 17:00
When you look into someone else's eyes, you encounter them as well as yourself. Every gaze that we hold instead of averting can trigger emotions, stimuli, and intuitions—in ourselves as well as in the person opposite us. At first, this may arouse curiosity. Perhaps also strangeness. Or surprise. Affection. Concern. Compassion. We begin to read the other person's face – and often see mainly ourselves.
It is my pleasure to be able to show some pictures of my encounters with sadhus, the ascetic Indian wandering monks, at the exhibition “SICHTBAR:UNSICHTBAR” (VISIBLE:INVISIBLE)
at the Art Center Dreieich.
On my travels, I came into close contact with those sadhus who left worldly possessions behind to seek spiritual enlightenment through meditation and renunciation. Their otherness and, at the same time, their deep roots in a tradition dating back thousands of years fascinated me. Their ritual practices, their calmness, their penetrating gazes inspired me to reflect on my own position. This revealed a profound insight to me. It is not only what is seen that changes the beholder, but something that shines back in the other person's own gaze casting a new light on one's own being.
In this way, every exchange of glances offers a deeper dimension. Just as Siddhartha in Hermann Hesse's work of the same name understands the river as a teacher, my encounters with the sadhus gave me new perspectives on self-discovery and spirituality. It is an experience that many travelers to India, artists, and seekers have—a confrontation with the present that can be expressed less in words than in lived presence.
Who knows, perhaps my pictures invite the viewer not only to look outward, but also to embark on an inner journey that begins with an attempt to understand one's own existence. For one's own truth can also be reflected in the gaze of others.
«SICHTBAR:UNSICHTBAR»
(«VISIBLE:INVISIBLE»)
Art-Center-Dreieich
10. & 11. May 2025
11:00 — 17:00
Helmut Haase
Photography & Stories
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© Helmut Haase 1975 – 2025