Days of a Bag No. 6 by Jens Knigge.
I first came across the Days of a Bag series platinum palladium prints by Jens Knigge* in 2020. A friend of mine, Jacques Crouille (@Gacougnol), introduced me to his work and I immediately fell in love. The images are both bold and delicate, with intensely rich greys and blacks characteristic to the distinctive photographic process he uses. And while the series makes a brilliant statement about the affects of the plastics we use every day on sea life—I find the images to be both deceptively simple and yet profoundly compelling—I immediately felt an affinity for one of the images that was personal. Paradoxically embodying both the fragility and power I was aspiring to in my compositions, this specific image is a perfect accompaniment to the songs on this album.
Because Days of a Bag No. 6 bore a striking resemblance to one of my recent chest X-rays.
For the past three years I’ve lived with a chronic lung issue. My interstitial lung disease is idiopathic—meaning we can’t figure out what’s causing it—and leaves me out of breath with even mild exertion. This undiagnosis came directly on the heels of my second stroke, a month-long stay at the University Hospital in Zürich, and a procedure to mend a hole between the chambers of my heart. Needless to say, my thoughts had been consumed by the fragility of the human body, and I was struggling to come to terms with my mortality. And working out how to express these ideas in sound.
So after doing a bit of research on the image, I emailed Jens. I sent him my thoughts about the album, a link to early versions of the songs, and crossed my fingers. Within the day, I received his decidedly gracious reply—with a high-resolution scan of the image attached. I was, and am still, completely stunned by his generosity.
If I ever have the great fortune of performing these pieces in Berlin, I’ll introduce him to you.
*Born in 1964, Jens Knigge grew up in East Germany and studied to become an engineer. He began working as a photographer in 1993, taking photographic portraits of jazz musicians. As digital photography became increasingly ubiquitous in the late ‘90s, he chose to devote himself to an archaic photography technique called platinum palladium printing. This process, unlike other photographic techniques, renders a single, unique image. He has published several books and regularly shows his work, mainly in Germany, Japan and the United States.
In nine large-format photograms, the Days of a Bag series reflects the fragility of a plastic bag. Placed directly on light-sensitive paper, the manufactured artefact is seen crumpled, twisted and damaged. The resulting images evoke jellyfish and other delicate sea creatures, reminding us of the danger of plastic pollution to marine animals.
