Towards The Wood

Axel Hutte s ‘reflections’ toy with the myth of Narcissus who fell in love with his own reflection and paid for his love with his life. Since the creation of this myth in general and the invention of the mirror in particular, water surfaces have exuded an irresistible magnetism, especially when they are surrounded\nby trees. Hutte’s new images are in a sense an off-shoot of his jungle photographs. Gazing through his lens one day, he discovered the upright reflection of a human figure upon a dark green surface of water. Hutte was using a\nplate camera through which the world appears upside down, and he therefore saw the image twice reversed,\ni.e., ‘right side up.’ This discovery fascinated him to such an extent that\nhe dedicated an entire series to reflected images. On the basis of a simple optico-physical law he produced images which bewilder our perception and confront\nour senses with brainteasers of a seemingly playful nature.