Mirrored caves and limestone landscape forming an unfamiliar world

A photographic series

ECHO

The memory of stoneGundolf Pfotenhauer

The Place

Looking beneath the surface.

ECHO began in the caves and limestone landscape around Matera. I was drawn to details in the rock: openings, cuts, mineral surfaces and traces left by people over thousands of years.

I was not interested in making familiar views of the Sassi. I wanted to look more closely, beyond the first impression, and find the hidden life of the place.

Symmetrical limestone formation resembling a masked figure — ECHO–02 · DISGUISE

The Vision

Real places become unfamiliar.

I collect fragments of caves, ravines and abandoned rock-cut spaces, then mirror and recombine them. Through symmetry, a real landscape becomes another world: a face, a body, a creature or something that has no name.

For me, these images carry an echo of time. The stone seems still, but it holds human traces and a memory much older than us.

Dark symmetrical cave interior resembling a mask — ECHO–04 · THE MASK

Mirrored rock-cut chamber resembling a dormant being — ECHO–10 · THE DORMANT LISTENER

The Echo

Mirrored rock chambers forming a watchful face — ECHO–05

Matera transformed into a floating symmetrical world — ECHO–09

Mirrored limestone ravine forming a dreamlike figure — ECHO–11

ECHO is my attempt to make that hidden memory visible.

The photographs come from Matera, but the place they reveal could be anywhere — or somewhere deep inside us.

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