"I grew up on a farm and my father had boats, so ropes have always been present in my life. When you work with them, you get to understand something about the use and transfer of energy. For example, on a boat, you pull a rope and you can completely change the direction in which you navigate ... So, the day I realised that I could combine the photography with people and ropes in my work, it was very significant for me. "
Garth Knight grew up with the idea of getting to one day become a photographer. At the age of 21, he made his first photographs for the sheer pleasure of drawing some aesthetic value from them, and though he grew up in that field and made a living with it, Knight always felt photography as something alien, as if Between him and the people he had photographed there was an abyss, until at the end of the '90s a spectacle of bondage opened his eyes.
At first glance the work of this Australian artist may seem extreme, very carnal, but in reality has a deep spiritual depth that speaks more of the emotional connections between people and the world than the viscerality of their nature.
It may seem strange, but that show, something simple and not too erotic, captivated his imagination. From the moment he incorporated bondage into his work, he became physically and spiritually involved with his creative work, leaving aside that coldness that so little convinced him.
Among his works, his series of slavery are the most recognised by the public. In them, the shibari tradition is a constant. With strings and nudes, he makes sculptural pieces with a great visual force. His masculine and feminine models are confused between bonds and knots, creating chrysalis sensation about to break.
His images have something sinister and at the same time something sacred that alters morale and reorders the concept of good and evil. The bodies twist, stretch, complain, suffer and dream under a tree that drinks from them and gives them life.
garthknight.com
