On the Meaning of Dreams

Ousia: I have some background in psychology studies with personal fascination for the unconscious mind, the dream realms and for the mysteries of the human experience. I naturally tend to focus on these themes as the pillars of my musical approach.

Kasper: I’m an amateur. I will only do this for the love of it. Or rather I’m trying to catch and keep the pictures I see everywhere, both visual and oral. I’ve never been taught anything by a professional, and I’ve never done anything for money, neither writing nor photographing. I think it’s because I would never dare to let anyone evaluate my work for real. Now I’m here being the most normal of normal people avoiding being what I dream of the most, and fear the most, and artist.

What’s the story behind the series?

Ousia: During a challenging period, I had a dream one night where I was bearing witness to a seemingly lost city of unnamable scale in a middle eastern setting. It all felt so peaceful yet so unreal! The next day, I just knew I had to mess with neys and then “Murs Perdus” came around in a day and felt just as meditative. Still inspired, I made “Dubbing Through” a couple days later as a “Part 2”, but it ended up a bit too different with the dubwise inspiration. Decided to name this one in regards to the challenges I was facing, with the rising hope to “come through”.  It all came full circle.

Kasper: I was given Murs Perdus  and Dubbing Through to listen to, and when I put this music of Ousia on, I got this melancholic feeling, like missing a place I may never have been, but that I’ve at least dreamt about. So then I went on a journey for that place, put the music into my ears, so my intuition could decide what I would capture, hoping I’d reach there  through the pictures. I don’t think I ever arrived there, but the journey surely was interesting in itself, maybe even more than actually arriving.

What are your visual inspirations and how did you decide to combine shooting with poetry?

Kasper: Shooting pictures has always been a part of how I’ve been in this world. My dad built his own darkroom when I was very little, and the magic that occurred in that room is among my most cherished childhood memories.

But life went on, the darkroom was dismantled, and I never had the courage to pursue a career in photography. So today I see myself as a true amateur; doing this only for the love of it. I don’t have any photographic role models, apart from my dad, but I know any great picture I’ve seen is stored somewhere in my mind, and I’m unconsciously trying to recreate any of them. Also I think that in my pictures I’m reaching back to something that never came into  anything, and at the same time seeing death out there. When I first started posting on Instagram I wrote anything that came into my mind in the caption. And because my writing style is quite succinct, I was suggested to give writing poetry a try. And I’ve tried to put down what the pictures tell me in poetry since then.

What does Ousia mean?

Ousia: Well, it’s a term which found no unanimity in regard to one official meaning due to various usage within its evolution from philosophical, theological and ontological standpoints. So to give a short answer, it would mean “essence” or the act of “being”. I also have personal stories to attach my own meaning to it, which is a discussion for another time.