»Observe and consider before you open the shutter. The heart and mind are the actual objective of the camera.« (Yousuf Karsh). These words, expressed by the renowned portrait photographer of the 1980’s, sound somewhat indecent if looked upon with our modern »consumer« attitudes. However, the simple truth of Andrej Perko’s photography earns their meaning and sense. Perko belongs to those creators inside the photographic medium, who do not manipulate the »object« in order to subdue it to their own vision. The chosen motif is not ripped out of its natural environment, but rather experienced and revived – the author inquires beyond its outer image and discovers its depths, evoked through memories and feelings that accompany them. In this series, he is instigated by waters – these children of the Ocean whisper to him through the flowing of forms, the appearance of physical and invisible, through scents and ghosts, through the poetry of the flow of life and human existence. He chose four rivers which touched him in some special way with their existences and symbolic contents and meaningful backgrounds. The author attempts to capture their characters and nature and establish some kind of a connection with them, although he approaches them from the »safe distance« – with fearful respect. His choosing of black-and-white techniques, which are a constant in his work, is completely planned and conscious – they are a means to approach the generalization of reality. Arnold Newman says, that we »do not photograph with a camera but rather with our hearts and minds.«
Tanja Cigoj