Episodic Orientation

Chance rarely presents itself as an event. Instead, it reveals itself through the coexistence of circumstances whose relationship remains inaccessible. In this image, a windsurfer, a woman in red, a utility pole, a rowboat, and a skateboarding trick share the same fragment of time, even though each belongs to a different story.

It was Saturday. The rain had brought the fishermen’s activity to a halt, and All Saints Bay remained windless. The woman, accustomed to her morning walk, had changed her schedule after celebrating her favorite niece’s fifteenth birthday. The windsurfer waited out on the water for conditions that would allow him to return to shore. On the skatepark, the skateboarder was experiencing an event of his own. The utility pole remained where it was, silently passing through all these circumstances.

The image interrupts that independence. By bringing these episodes together, it creates a proximity that may not belong to the world itself, but to the representation I make of it. It is in that interval that I begin to invent.

The butterfly effect offers a hypothesis: small events can become part of chains whose full extent remains unknown. A celebration that ran late, a postponed walk, the absence of wind, an interrupted activity. While all of this was happening in Salvador, perhaps another event was unfolding on a small island in Indonesia. A decision, a rainstorm, a delay. I do not know whether there is any connection; I can only imagine one.

When I return to the image, perhaps another narrative will take shape. The utility pole will remain still, the sea will remain where it is, but the relationships I construct between them may change. The scene fixes the moment without exhausting everything it may contain.

Thank goodness photography exists.