Remember when you were a kid, and you tried to chase your shadow, watched it elongate the lower the sun fell in the sky? Or did you ever stamp on the shadow of the person next to you in hopes that it would smoosh your little sister’s face? Okay, maybe that was just me, but clearly I’m not the only person fascinated with shadows and what they represent.
Photographer Pol Ubeda Hervas has used shadow and a solitary pair of running shoes to express an absence within himself, the feeling that he doesn’t recognize himself any longer. Hervas photographs his form in shadow to achieve the image, but then masterfully removes his body, leaving only the etching of his former self on the pavement. Haunting, the images are a private glimpse into the artist’s soul:
“These pictures are the way I see myself now. My shadow is there but I erase myself because I don’t know who I am any longer. The shoes remain only to make sure there is something more than … a shadow.”
