The Quest - a photographic journey based on the novel Night train to Lisbon
One day I read Pascal Mercier's novel Night train to Lisbon. Immediately after reading the first page it blows my mind. I am, as it were, sucked into the book and read it in one breath. The tone of the book touches me, but above all it is the main character, a classical language teacher from Bern, who grabs me. From one moment to the next he gives up his familiar life and literally and figuratively goes on a journey. My desire has been touched: I immediately know that I want to visualize this book.
Years will follow when I keep rereading the book. And at the beginning of 2015 I decide to realize my dream.
With the novel in my hand, I book my first trip to Bern. Just before that I meet the writer; it is an incredibly beautiful encounter that proves to be nourishing and inspiring for the journeys that follow. With the novel and the camera in my hand, I travel several times to Bern and Lisbon. In search of the essence of the story and, as it turns out, the essence of my own life.
The grand finale will come in the spring of 2018: like the main character in the book, I will board the night train to Lisbon and travel from Bern via Paris to Irun. The circle is complete when I get off the night train in Lisbon. My photo book The Questand the exhibition will follow shortly after.
This photographic journey reminds me of what is important to me: my inner freedom, to know who and where I am, what I do, how I do things and above all how I manage to deal with it. To discover that I know where I'm going, but not where I'll end up.
As someone who needs images to understand the world, I realize I need such a journey. In Bern and in Lisbon I recognize that different feelings like happiness, loneliness, sadness and longing, are all part of me and and that this combination will take me further. I need those opposites and the movement between them to create. They remind me every time to keep my mind alive and to trust my intuition.
Purchase a copy of my book, with a personal note, below!