Lost Futures 2017
The images in Lost Futures shine a light on the ghosts of nationalism in our culture. Jan Cylwik developed a unique process to photograph figures on antique silver coins, which having circulated in their hundreds of millions became embedded in our consciousness. Such figures are still potent symbols of our cultural identity and hope for a utopian future. They evoke feelings of nostalgia and nationalism, even directing our political actions. When cultural identify is at stake, those ghosts come back to haunt our imaginations. Then they reappear in as much detail as our imaginations can muster, as if reincarnated into the space between the ethereal and the real. The images show every detail of the, now irredeemably damaged, figures to signify the loss of a promised future. The figures were printed on 100 cm high Duralux (aluminium) and framed in black.
