The concept of liminality is a seductive and slippery one in the fields of aesthetics and philosophy. Known largely as a term describing a psychological state, its origins were actually from the field of anthropology, and are related to rite-of-passage rituals of a three-part structure consisting of: 1) separation; 2) a liminal or in-between period; and 3) reassimilation. The OED describes liminality specifically as, "Of or pertaining to the threshold or initial stage of a process," and as the author of the site liminality.org writes, liminality is a state of being "betwixt and between." Not necessarily outside the social or a given mode or environment but not from within it either, liminal is the state of existing in between states/modes-of-being/environments. It is to be in but not of; it is literally the in-between space.
UK-based photographer Nick Rochowski visually investigates what he takes to be the liminal places through a study of constructed landscapes and boundary areas in dark forests and woodlands, both literal and imagined.
Untitled, from the series Liminal Points: The Woods by Nick Rochowski
Untitled, from the series Liminal Points: The Woods by Nick Rochowski
Nick's photos in this series are all situated at a time that is not-quite night and not-quite day, the air and light themselves taking on that betwixt-and-between time and coloring. Pardoxically, where an image may seem to have been taken at the darkest of hours, a slice of light—is it moonlight? is it supernatural?—will it illuminate a path of blue wildflowers against the inky stumps and trunks of trees? In several images from this body of work, an arc of undulating currents weaves its way into the middle ground, conjuring up associations of spirits, the unknown or of raw energy itself hovering in the ether. Rochowski's imaginings of what and where these boundary spaces are reflect back on his definition of these liminal spaces, as well as on the viewer's own childhood conceits of such places.
Untitled, from the series Liminal Points: The Woods by Nick Rochowski
Taking his inspiration from cinematography and traditional landscape photography, Rochowski writes that his aim with this series is to address:
...the relationship between thoughts, the senses and the environment [that] are manifested in vivid isolated scenes. Each location has a story ingrained that has been passed down through historical fact, village myth and family tales. Although these are the personal experiences of nature, solitude and youth resonates in all people.
I find Nick's images to be psychologically rich spaces that I am invited to enter alone, as if happening upon these clearings and vistas without quarter or concern. These are not necessarily the places where bad things will happen, but they might be the sort where anything on a weirdness scale of 1-10 just might.
You can see all of the images in this series, as well as other related bodies of work, on Nick's website.