MICHAEL MAGERS

BY: Sarah Sunday

While the pace of the world shifts, a new cultural scene has been set against an unusual backdrop. As photographers and galleries have been repositioning to adjust to the “new normal” of the art world, Fotografiska New York is striving to alleviate some of the current social division through its online Foto Sessions. In its pursuit to bring art and photography to homes across the globe, the gallery teamed up with photographer Michael Magers to provide an online live reading from his newly released book, Independent Mysteries. An excerpt read aloud by writer Mitch Moxley transports the listener to an unsettlingly poetic setting, undeniably foreign and yet eerily familiar.

Independent Mysteries divulges into the quiet and private moments of subjects in places such as Haiti, Cuba, and Japan. What had originally began as personal side projects, ultimately accumulated into a denser, more potent body of work. Michael Magers spoke with PROVOKR, saying, “I set out to organize photos and realized I had things that were really geographically and temporally different but had a semantic connection. I was clearly seeing something over a long period of time and regardless of where I was in the world, my subconscious was honing in on something.”

When touching on the subject of intimate distance, a quintessential factor in the work, Magers quotes Japanese author Haruki Murakami, who stated, “Two people can sleep in the same bed and still be alone when they close their eyes.” With a deep-rooted belief in the photographer’s simultaneous closeness and distance to the subject, Magers comments, “[It’s] this feeling of being close, but also this intense sense of longing for something that’s more tangible.”

Much of Magers’ work centers on the art of craftsmanship, with a focal point on food preparation, tattooing, and Japanese artisans. Regardless of the craft, Magers’ study through photography has impressed upon him the unsurpassable importance of the process of creation. “You have to have that sense of being connected and immersed,” states Magers. “It’s that moment when [your] inner life meets the outer life of the world. That’s no different than the creation of a great sake cup or a beautiful piece of weaving.” An innate student of the world, Magers has gracefully mastered the art of photography, both on the street and in more intimate settings. Independent Mysteries garners itself as a beautifully ample collection of, as Magers refers to them, “very random, very isolated jazz-like improvisational moments.”

To hear a live reading and learn more about Independent Mysteries, follow the link here.