page 1.2 — Livio Burtscher

LIVIO BURTSCHER

Too close to focus
Encounters with Depth, Distraction & Desire

Switzerland, Italy
12 photographs, analog
produced in 2025

This photographic series explores the visual and emotional tension that arises when multiple layers converge within a single frame. By placing objects and textures close to the lens, while simultaneously engaging with striking, often cinematic backgrounds, these images disrupt the traditional hierarchy of depth. What is near may blur into abstraction; what is far becomes oddly immediate. This interplay challenges our usual perceptions of space and focus.

Flash photography plays a pivotal role in the work — not merely as a lighting tool, but as a way of flattening space, creating artificial highlights, and exaggerating contrasts. The flash reveals what might otherwise be lost in shadow, turning mundane surfaces into moments of intensity. It becomes a visual interruption, a kind of punctuation in the frame that draws attention to the act of looking itself.

At its core, this series is an experiment with photographic presence — a study in how layers, light, and proximity can create not just images, but environments. Each photograph invites the viewer to navigate through visual contradictions: clarity and blur, intimacy and distance, spontaneity and control. The result is a body of work that feels both tactile and elusive.

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