That place next to the motorway: A piece of nature nobody cares looking at. Utilitarian nevertheless: A path runs through it to take you away from it. The houses in the distance – though it’s not far, no one really cares to go here. Oppressed by low hanging clouds.

Landscape as in: a place for recreation, a place to enjoy the beauty of nature, a place to exploit, a place to make room for civilization, a place that is defined only in relation to the people inhabiting it or preventing it from being inhabited; and in contrast to this: The Useless Landscape: The piece of land left out in urbanisation, that place that has been given up and slowly being reclaimed by nature; that place that is merely distance, something we pass through on our way to where we actually want to go; that landfill with unclear ownership, that piece of wood that is barely cared for… that landscape that is useless.

Protection,
Berlin, July 2019

This girl I know needs some shelter
She don’t believe anyone can help her
She’s doing so much harm
Doing so much damage

But you don’t want to get involved
You tell her she can manage
And you can’t change the way she feels
But you could put your arms around her

I know you want to live yourself
But could you forgive yourself
If you left her just the way you found her

I stand in front of you
I’ll take the force of the blow, protection
I stand in front of you
I’ll take the force of the blow, protection

You’re a boy and I’m a girl
But you know you can lean on me
And I don’t have no fear
I’ll take on any man here
Who says that’s not the way it should be

I stand in front of you
I’ll take the force of the blow, protection
I stand in front of you
I’ll take the force of the blow, protection

She’s a girl and you’re a boy
Sometimes you look so small, you look so small
I’ve got a baby of your own
When your baby’s grown, she’ll be the one
To catch you when you fall

I stand in front of you
I’ll take the force of the blow, protection
I stand in front of you
I’ll take the force of the blow, protection

You’re a girl and I’m a boy
You’re a girl and I’m a boy yeah
You’re a girl and I’m a boy
You’re a girl and I’m a boy hey

Sometimes you look so small, you need some shelter
Just runnin’ round and round, helter skelter
And I’ve leaned on me for years now you can lean on me
And that’s more than love, that’s the way it should be
Now I can’t change the way you think

But I can put my arms around you
That’s just part of the deal
That’s the way I feel
I put my arms around you

I stand in front of you
I’ll take the force of the blow, protection
I stand in front of you
I’ll take the force of the blow, protection

You’re a boy and I’m a girl
You’re a boy and I’m a girl, hey
You’re a boy and I’m a girl
You’re a boy and I’m a girl, yeah

— Massive Attack: Protection

Paris, May 2016

the priestess said:

“when the shadow of the cursed falls on the fetish,

it becomes infinitely more powerful.

It is when its submerged in the dark imprint

of the cursed, the fetish can reach deep

into the soul of its victim.

From here it tears off a part of his shadow

and thereby forms a connection with the cursed

that can not be broken.

from: Photograph your shadow without photographing a shadow

The Devil
, Schwetzingen, April 2019

herein lie my bones

enshrined and with them

lies my shadow.

may the devil

guard my rest

from: Photograph your shadow without photographing a shadow

as I passed by his house,

the Buddha glanced cursorily

at my shadow.

the Buddha holds the

whole world in his head and

so he held my shadow.

but here we look into

the Buddha’s head:

It is empty and

so is the world.

from: Photograph your shadow without photographing a shadow

The Eye, Schwetzingen, April 2019

The Eye

took on hard look

at my shadow and

only faint ripples

were moving across its surface

and even these were gone

after a while and all

lay still and dark,

like nothing ever had happened.

from: Photograph your shadow without photographing a shadow