RUTA SAKSENS KALMANE
THE BUSH MONSTER
Kalmane: ‘The Bush Monster’ is a photographically illustrated rhyming story for children, inspired by both my son and nature in my garden, located in the Dutch woodland region ‘The Veluwe’. A handmade book, it tells an unusual story of a bush monster who is used to hunting creatures that are different than others and chooses a wooden reindeer as his next target. Bullying happens across all ages, to children and adults alike. This peculiar tale can serve as a starting point for a more in-depth discussion between an adult and a child, raising questions around such topics as bullying, being different, empathy and forgiveness. ‘The Bush Monster’ illustrates a story with nature photography told in an anthropomorphistic manner and with an emphasis on upareidolia, highlighting arbitrary connections in nature that lead to new meanings by combining, cropping, cutting, adjusting, rearranging, decolourising, flipping and mirroring digital photographic images. Besides digital images, the book includes also digital pinhole images and reverse lens images, as well as it includes work from other mediums like handmade paper, organic matter and a sound track, offering interaction and more complex engagement.
Ruta Saksens Kalmane, a writer, artist and photographer, was born in Riga, but since 2013 is based in the Netherlands. After having researched verbal and written language as a part of BA and MA English Linguistics courses by the University of Latvia, Ruta joined an MA Photography course by the Falmouth University in 2021 to dig into the world of visual language. Ruta's attention in photography focuses on nature subjects, seeking ways to visually represent arbitrary connections of the natural world. For her mixed-media projects Ruta uses a variety of photography techniques, sound tracks, hand-made paper and organic matter.