Saku, Osho Risk’s in-house photographer, shows playful and creative pictures, some taken (and staged) during the initial lockdown phase in Denmark.
I was looking for pictures to submit to this gallery and just could not come up with anything. I love portrait photography and there’s plenty of beautiful landscapes to choose from. I’ve been part of many festivals and other events that had created a nice collection of quality photos… but I just couldn’t come up with the right theme – until it hit me…
This series of photos is a celebration of the people currently living, or who have lived at Osho Risk at some point. It’s an ode to those creative moments when you just get inspired; when you let energy play freely. It’s those moments when you come together to express all sorts of different aspects, moods and characters and create worlds that you didn’t even know existed before you expressed them.
I want to tell a little about a few individual projects and what brought them into existence.
- Japanese Zen master “Yakashimi Nakamoto” was a summer festival creation by Manish, who has been around for a long time. He was writing very funny spiritual haikus and dressing up in character to perform them. We decided to create his little “cabin by the mountain”, where the master was at work – writing his poems and living the simple life of a Zen master. We turned Shunya, the outside meditation hut, into his domain.
- The lockdown art re-creation. It was one of the workers at Risk, Geertje, who was spending her lockdown at Risk this spring and came up with the idea of re-creating some of the most famous paintings, with a few personal touches of course. I was more than happy to take part since there was very little else to do. We re-imagined Michelangelo’s Last Supper, Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix and Luncheon of Boating Party by Renoir, using whatever and whoever was available in the commune. It was a lot of organising, but it all paid off.
- “Reek.” Jaan, a winter resident at Osho Risk, is one of my favourite models because he is always ready to play with characters and really gets into it. This time I found an abandoned house, perfect for some disturbing pictures and thus we had to come up with a character worthy of this place. That’s how Reek was born. He was a Joker-type insane killer who captured his victims and brought them to his lair to turn them into sausages (why not). Jaan took this role on and played it out in a truly chilling and disturbing way. But boy, did we have fun! [Osho Risk is in Denmark which is part of the Nordic countries, and therefore partial to the Nordic Noir tradition… ed.]
The remaining photos were taken in my spare time to experiment with some ideas I’ve had, although a couple of them are from photo shoots commissioned by some very creative and inspiring people.
What all of these pictures have in common is that they are representing the fun, creativity and playfulness of those who live at Osho Risk or have visited. And I as a photographer feel privileged to meet them halfway in what I do.
Related article
- Osho Risk in Denmark – A stroll through Osho Risk: the Buddhafield in the Heart of Denmark (2010)
- Osho Risk Turns 30! – Sudas looks at the history of this successful therapy centre and community in the Danish countryside – and ponders over its future (2016)
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