Do you ever find yourself standing in a room of crowded people but feeling as if you are completely alone? As if, no matter how many friends you have, you live in your own world. Romain Laurent's latest series, L'Horizon, depicts a sun-kissed surf boarder in the middle of reality. The surfer floats on a vast, invisible, calm ocean -- his feet never touch the ground, as if he is present in reality but never attached to it.
These photos are mesmerizing. The surfer has a presence about him, like he was aborted from the place he bleongs and dropped into a foreign place. The man doesn't lose his spirit though -- he remains slumped on his surf board, just as a typical surfer does as he waits for the perfect wave to ride.
I think the real art in this collection is the message it sends. There are several ways to interpret it, perhaps from the surfer's position or from the bustling people of the city. From both sides of the spectrum, they could be mocking each other. In other words, the surfer may think that these white-collar workers look ridiculous as they hustle to their jobs. He might see the towering skyscrapers and feel as if he is trapped in a concrete jungle of some kind instead of the free nature. Meanwhile, the citizens of the city may be thinking that this man is not pragmatic and a "bum" of some kind. Or maybe, just maybe, some of these workers are wishing they were in the surfer's position; they wish that they didn't have to attend their daily jobs and complete the same task every day.
In each of the photos, the surfer maintains the same facial expression; he keeps looking out onto the horizon, as if he is searching for something. Something within himself, maybe. Are you?
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