WAWAY – THE NIGHT AND HER COMPANION, Dominik Fleischmann
The Night And Her Companion at Poriginal Gallery is a photographic series that emerges from the artist’s personal experiences at the Bolivian wildlife sanctuary Ambue Ari. Through the story of the night monkey Waway, the exhibition explores topics of loneliness, care and companionship in beyond-human worlds.
Waway’s home is the jungle of Parque Ambue Ari, a sanctuary that shelters furry victims of illegal wildlife trade, deforestation and wildfires who cannot be safely returned to their native habitat. The sanctuary gives animals like Waway the chance to reclaim their place among the branches and leaves, even if it is only for a night at a time.
In the exhibition visitors encounter Waway on his journeys into the dark through somber and radiant red images and a collection of fallen leaves. The photographs from the night walks are characterized by the red light that the staff and volunteers use since it is gentler for the monkey’s eyes. The shy Waway finds safety in darkness where he can forage on young cocoa leaves and fireflies in the canopy of the night.
The exhibition ponders upon the questions of companionship beyond humans, wild animal care in the face of blatant ecocides and how darkness can become a shelter when even sanctuaries have cages.
While the framed works speak of the night, the photographs on leaves tell Waway’s story with sunlight. The leaf works make use of the chlorophyll process. An alternative photographic technique that utilizes the plants innate process of photosynthesis for developing images on leaves. Photographs are exposed on the leaves under sunlight to create the subtle image that forms on their veining surfaces. These prints on leaves are allowed to fade and crumble during the span of the exhibition and eventually return to where they grew.
The Night And Her Companion is part of the long-term artistic project “To Fall Like A Leaf”. In a series of exhibitions the project seeks to learn with companion species about tropical ecologies, topics of habitat loss, species loneliness and the beauty and challenges of human-animal entanglements.
Dominik Fleischmann (b. 1989) a visual artist from Germany based in Finland. Between and after his studies in Berlin (Bachelor of Arts, btk) and Helsinki (Master of Arts, Aalto University) he worked in animal sanctuaries across the globe researching the relationship between humans and other animals.
His photographic work is rooted in the search of ethics, justice and care for the breathing world. He combines a documentary approach with a lyrical narrative and draws inspiration from nature writers, ecofeminism, poetry and environmental activism.
The works for his exhibition Waway – The Night and her Companion were developed as artist in residence for the Bolivian wildlife rescue organization Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi (CIWY). At CIWY’s largest sanctuary “Ambue Ari ” Dominik worked with digital and alternative photography techniques in close collaboration with veterinarians, animals and caretakers.
The exhibition is supported by FINNFOTO and TAIKE – Arts Promotion Centre Finland.