Borderlands

Borderlands is about the physical and internal borders that disrupt human beings. The project seeks to connect disruptive human emotions with physical borders that exist in our surroundings, and ultimately is about figuring out ways to cross these boundaries. The photographs clash physical interpretations of borders taken from my personal endeavors and life experiences with more abstract and metaphorical interpretations of borders that are drawn from human emotion. Amidst the more abstract forms of expression, the images of fences, mountains and walls are reminders of the physical divisions between countries and communities that exist in reality, as well as metaphors for the internal obstacles that disrupt human beings. The photographs portray individuals and communities that exist in a liminal space between belonging and abandonment, many of which exert feelings of desolation. The photographs also seek to break down the borders and barriers that the subjects within them endure.

The ‘unscripted’ nature of the work has an impact on its style, in particular in the variety of genres and colors—from landscape photography to portraiture and from black and white to color—that the images of Borderlands belong to. The various forms of expression serve as a ways to materialize the ideas at the core of the project and to break down barriers or restrictions within the photographic medium.

The photographs were taken from 2016-2018 in Watts (CA), Long Beach (CA), the California desert, Mexico and Israel.

© Kovi Konowiecki - Forbidden Fruit I, 2016
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Forbidden Fruit I, 2016

© Kovi Konowiecki - Forbidden Fruit II, 2017
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Forbidden Fruit II, 2017

© Kovi Konowiecki - Picket Fence, 2017
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Picket Fence, 2017

© Kovi Konowiecki - Balance Act I, 2017
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Balance Act I, 2017

© Kovi Konowiecki - Pedestrian Crossing, 2017
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Pedestrian Crossing, 2017

© Kovi Konowiecki - Devon, Jordan Downs, 2017
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Devon, Jordan Downs, 2017

© Kovi Konowiecki - Palms, 2017
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Palms, 2017

© Kovi Konowiecki - Casson, 2017
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Casson, 2017

© Kovi Konowiecki - Brush Fire, Corona, 2017
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Brush Fire, Corona, 2017

© Kovi Konowiecki - Wanderer, 2017
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Wanderer, 2017

© Kovi Konowiecki - Tree Stump, 2016
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Tree Stump, 2016

© Kovi Konowiecki - Brothers, Jordan Downs, 2017
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Brothers, Jordan Downs, 2017

© Kovi Konowiecki - Crater, 2017
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Crater, 2017

© Kovi Konowiecki - Mountain Goat, 2017
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Mountain Goat, 2017

© Kovi Konowiecki - Shadow of Fence, 2016
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Shadow of Fence, 2016

© Kovi Konowiecki - Brothers, Long Beach, 2017
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Brothers, Long Beach, 2017

© Kovi Konowiecki - Sculpture, 2017
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Sculpture, 2017

© Kovi Konowiecki - Boy, Toluca, 2017
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Boy, Toluca, 2017

© Kovi Konowiecki - Vines I, 2016
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Vines I, 2016

© Kovi Konowiecki - Godel and Aron, Jerusalem, 2017
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Godel and Aron, Jerusalem, 2017

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