My photographic series, Objetos que todos hemos visto alguna vez, is made up of 24 photographs featuring eight objects that, together, allow me to explore the theme of déjà vu. In a few moments, I will explain the specific approach I took in greater detail, but I decided to find my inspiration in the trigger of a feeling of déjà vu: a situation. In my series, the situation remains the same throughout all the photographs: being confronted with common and familiar objects. I decided to take several photographs of objects that everyone has seen at least once, placed against a white wall: flowers, roses, tree leaves, a CD, a paper clip, a bracelet, an origami crane, and a piece of jewelry.

 

My main technical and aesthetic approach to this theme is saturation. In photography, saturation comes from the use of the “HSL model (hue, saturation, lightness)” to describe colors. According to Adobe’s official website, saturation defines the intensity of a color. Zero saturation produces a black-and-white image, while 100% saturation gives an image with colors at their maximum intensity. I decided to play with the colors of the objects by drawing on the idea of the rainbow. The rainbow is an almost fantastical image that we have all seen and that places color at the center of our attention. For the series, I chose to remain within the boundaries of a white wall whose tone would change depending on the lighting.

 

Each object had a dominant color—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, lilac, violet, or pink—and I used LED lights to illuminate the wall with each corresponding color, allowing me to fully explore the intensity of the colors.According to Larousse, déjà vu is a disturbance of memory that gives a person the sudden and intense impression of having already experienced the present situation in the past. I decided to explore this idea through the basic principle of photography: we are looking at something. Photography is an art form based solely on the visual, unlike cinema, which works with sound, and architecture, which works with matter. Photography works only with the image. This is why I thought about working with visual objects as a way of exploring déjà vu. A feeling of déjà vu can appear in any situation, but what really interests me is what triggers that feeling.

 

I believe that objects can have the ability to create this disturbance in our memory. I decided to allow my origins to become part of the project through the title Objetos que todos hemos visto alguna vez. The title is in Spanish, my mother tongue, which itself carries a great deal of memory. When speaking this language here, in a country so far from my country of origin, Colombia, I experience a feeling of déjà vu whenever someone uses an expression or phrase that someone in my country would use. Objects are something that I find particularly interesting to represent, especially because of their relationship with humanity. Humanity has always had objects, and through common things such as flowers, it has found an expression of love; through paper, a form of representation; and through stones, beauty. It is humanity that has made these objects so meaningful. Even though they are common and familiar, they can carry deep emotions. They are objects that often contain feelings and memories within them.The first object in my series is the rose, which represents romantic love. It touches human life from its earliest moments, and its color is red: the color of passion. The second is the yellow origami crane, which represents childhood, so full of joy and happiness. The third is the orange paper clip, which represents work—not in the sense of a profession, but in the sense of humanity’s ability to do, create, and build. The fourth is the tree leaves, which represent nature: vast, generous, and sublime. They are followed by the fifth object, the blue piece of jewelry, which represents motherhood. Blue evokes the sea, the origin of life, which surrounds us with the love of a mother. The sixth object is the lilac bracelet, which represents friendship. The seventh is the violet CD, which represents modern art and its presence in our lives, particularly through music, film, and photography. It also evokes the amount of information and memories that can be contained within such a simple piece of metal. Finally, the last object, the flowers, represents femininity: beautiful and strong, sincere and gentle.I decided to present the photographs in groups of three, showing three versions of the same image.

 

The central photograph has saturation at its maximum, while the two photographs on either side have their saturation reduced by 40%. This arrangement emphasizes the fleeting nature of déjà vu, a feeling that lasts only a few moments before disappearing. It is a feeling that arrives suddenly and leaves just as quickly. After setting the saturation to its maximum, I edited the other elements of each photograph to make them aesthetically pleasing. My aesthetic is shaped by a collection of personal tastes that seem to influence most of my practical work. I am particularly interested in still life because of its relationship with objects. In terms of painting, one work that particularly influenced this project was Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh, from 1887, which demonstrates an interesting approach to color and representation. The simple composition, with the object placed at the center, particularly influenced the framing of my photographs. The intense saturation of the yellow also inspired me to explore this approach to saturation through different colors. Another artist who greatly inspired me through her mastery and use of color is Alai, known on Instagram as @alaiganuza. Her paintings often depict food, but they are rendered with intense colors and an expressive use of colored light and shadows, allowing her to create new versions of familiar objects. It is a new way of approaching still life: vivid, dynamic, and full of color. I have always been drawn to color, and I am particularly interested in exploring its possibilities and the ways in which it can transform something familiar into something new.