Isaia Contreras Holsæter
Welcome to my site, a space dedicated to art photography. I am a Peruvian born, with Spanish and Norwegian parents, art photographer. Photography has been a big part of my expression since my first camera at 9 years old, where panorama photographs was the big thing so absolutely all my memories come in a panorama format, good thing I've moved on from that time... I won't be showing those photographs just to be clear!
Why photography?
There is something that happens when you look through that view finder , where you feel for a moment that you are part of something bigger, and where all your mundane worries disappear; it's just you and what you are trying to connect with. There is something in that concentrated way of looking that makes me feel grounded in a really empathetic way, and it's become my greatest addiction. I personally don't get that feeling when looking through the display (when photographing with a digital camera), it might be one of my defects.
Why art?
If Art is a language, then why explain it? It's like every other language; you don't walk around talking about grammar. Nonetheless, in order to be fully understood you have to know the "pragmatics", which normally are learnt out from experience and haven't, so far, been an important part of education. It's an innate instinct most people have, so that's why we tend to leave the subject alone.
In a world that slowly, but surely, tries to put Art aside, this innate instinct to the "art pragmatics" has been squeezed out of our everyday life. So sometimes, in order for something to be understood, it needs to be explained, you need to know the context.
Having this in mind, I was born far away. In a place where the small things were highly appreciated, whereas the big things....well, let's just say they were out of reach. So out of reach, that no one could bother looking out for them. What applied were the things within reach. Everyone was happy.
After a while, i moved to a not so far of country. Trouble at home, they say. This time, the small things didn't have any value, because everyone took them for granted. But me. Trying to fit in in a place where happiness is taken for granted, so they don't value it, and all that matters is thinking ahead, planning ahead. Forgetting the here and the now, and living in the there and then. Well, it was hard. I think a part of me changed right there and then. I knew my past was long gone, literally, and that i had to adapt. In order to do so, I hid an important part me.
I kept moving around.
Now, after having lived in all these different countries and experienced all the different cultures, i seem to have understood something. They're all the same. Everyone longs for what they don't have. No one cares about what they have.
With time, I became one of them. My value was so hidden, i'd forgotten about it. One day it hit me. I was as empty as possible. Nothing. Apathy.
Art is my escape, it is my way of trying to find something of value, which is a value in itself. It's appreciating all those small things rather than the big things. It's expressing what i'm feeling without holding back. It's searching. It's sharing, giving and not taking. It's being, once and for all.