Project: Windows & Doors

Where does one even begin when speaking of doors and windows, honoured in our October theme?

Beyond their obvious structural use in our everyday lives, these two ideas have appeared in countless forms of art. We have seen them in paintings, in cinema and theatre, in poems and song lyrics. From the legendary Doors to Bill Gates’s Windows, all the way to the late Greek songwriter Eftychia’s “Life has two doors,” whose iconic lyrics contain the decisive value these human expressions hold in our lives, transformed from the unconscious into artistic expression.

What might a closed door be hiding behind it? There it is, curiosity running down our spine. Could it be something admirable, something beautiful, or perhaps something terrifying, like a nightmare? Should we pass through this door that has appeared on the path of our life? Will it be an opportunity for something better, or are we perhaps better off here, in our certainty and safety? These are choices that weigh on the mind, and the door, a symbol of transition, stands there, sometimes wide open and sometimes locked, playing with our thoughts. The very essence of ambiguity, it becomes a sign of freedom and confinement at the same time. In its carvings hide the fears of uncertainty: do I stay or do I leave? The door that serves birth and death is the very same one that first opens our eyes and closes them for the last time, marking the hope of the eternal journey.

And the window is no less powerful in the grandeur of its symbols and meanings. Before the sweet sunlight bathing us, and through open shutters, the breeze of anticipation becomes hope. There too is love, leaning its head on the sill, sending its arrows into unsuspecting hearts. Closed shutters, and the fear lurking behind them, together with guilt and venomous intent, as the mind of an empty life seeks to learn the lives of others. Bars everywhere, ornate and uncanny, shutting those inside away from the designs of those outside, while at the same time, in a perverse reversal, cutting off the air from those whom life has chosen to lock within. 

Bridges they are, then, between the inside and the outside.

For photographers, they will always be a subject that intrigues and enchants through its aesthetic. They stir emotions and give birth to speculation. We love these two elements deeply, and we will photograph them forever, because they are part of our lives.