Using images and sounds, artist hopes to seize the power of Florida swamps

TAMPA, Fla. – For multidisciplinary artist Chris Leventis, images has already had a grasp on his coronary heart. “The idea of a single frame telling a story is just magic,” Leventis mentioned.  

The backstory:

After a 15-year profession as a industrial vogue photographer, Leventis took a five-year break.

“That was a really prescribed way of shooting. Very clean, focused and sharp, I had to follow the rules,” Leventis mentioned. 

He wished to do one thing utterly completely different, so he pursued his grasp’s diploma in high quality arts. An task compelled him to reconnect to nature. He ended up in a swamp, the place he might break lots of these earlier images guidelines. 

“I felt like I was home,” Leventis mentioned. 

Dig deeper:

“One of my mentors asked me what would one of your images sound like in the swamp? What would they have to say? What’s their voice?” Leventis mentioned. “That kind of sent me down a really deep rabbit hole about thinking, yeah, there’s energy out in the swamp. I felt that immediately. I wasn’t sure what it meant.”

Using his background in sound manufacturing, Leventis determined to deliver a modular synthesizer to plug into the roots and harness that power he felt. “A short while later, I was making images and creating and composing songs with the swamp all at the same time,” Leventis mentioned. 

What they’re saying:

“963 Hz” represents a Solfeggio frequency. “It’s a belief that certain frequencies do things to the mind and the body and can heal,” Leventis mentioned.

The exhibition options 27 photographs. They are all long-exposure pictures, various from a few minutes to an hour. Leventis strikes the digital camera and introduces parts all through the publicity to create an summary really feel to the black and white photographs. Five of the pictures characteristic accompanying music that was created on location. 

“It really comes to life in a different way,” Florida Museum of Photographic Arts Director of Operations Clara ten Berge mentioned. 

For Leventis, the four-year undertaking taught him many classes. 

“Self-discovery, breaking the rules, breaking free, and allowing myself to really create without any tethers, without any expectations, and allowing myself to make mistakes, that was the important part,” Leventis mentioned. “Because I’m a type-A personality, everything has to be perfect and planned, but when I started this work, I slowly started to let go, and I found out things about myself. I think it was the most important thing.”

What’s subsequent:

Leventis can be holding an artist speak on the museum on Sept. 25 at 5:30pm. It is included with the usual value of admission. He can be doing a reside efficiency of his swamp soundscapes on Oct. 17.