by Maria Sofou
Photographer Lou Krueger has captured a stunning series of photographs of the human body from his own, unique point of view.
The Temple of Wonders is a representation of the physical embodiment of human anomaly and its psychological consequences – Krueger, whose heart stopped and briefly died at a young age, uses his disfigured protagonists to talk about the fragility of the human body, blending the real with artificial in an astonishing exaggeration. Athough the photographer captures and montages his spray-painted models, his own body elements emerge as his physical wounds -the stitching, the stapling, the scars- are present in every picture.
A truly powerful and intimate account of what it means to be mortal.
“I had polio as a child and developed epilepsy as an adult. Somewhere in between I suffered a cardiac death and traveled–––floated, really–– through a corridor of light only to joyfully reach my destination and be told the bad news, “ Go back. We’re not ready for you yet.” I use a machine to help me breathe when I sleep, my shoulder is held together with screws, my jaw is wired together in multiple places, I have a device implanted in my body to regulate my heart, and I recently had a hip removed and replaced with titanium, chromium, and polyethylene. Is this normal? Am I normal? “The Temple of Wonders” asks: Who, or what, is normal? Where does it begin and where does it end? And what of the body: Did I betray it or did it betray me? Or both? Or neither?,” Krueger explains in his statement.