1.7 centimeters per year. That is the amount by which the American and Eurasian continental plates are moving away from each other. This phenomenon is of poetic significance to Uschi Groos because it shows that even the solid ground beneath our feet is not static, but subject to forces we cannot control.

Are not only continents but also groups of people moving further apart? There seems to be a worldwide tendency to the right and left, young and old, ethnic groups and social classes moving away from each other.

The artist wants to find out to what extent photography can tell a story about the change in a person’s values and beliefs. Installations in Iceland accentuate and bridge the drift. Together with portraits, however, they are not meant to create hopelessness. Continental drift is overwhelming, is a prerequisite for the existence of life as we know it. And finally, change can have a positive effect. Ernst Bloch’s “principle of hope” applies.

Uschi Groos. Born in Hesse. Trained as a photographer. Lives and works as an independent photographer in Germany and on La Gomera, where she runs an artist residence. Her work has been shown in national and international galleries, in solo exhibitions and group shows. Publications in magazines worldwide.

www.ugroos.de

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