"Naxos 8, Sicilia"

gelatin silver print

titled, dated and numbered (pencil) on verso

Out of the darkness emerge images - black and white: flowers, leaves, blossoms. Perhaps even nightshade plants? The night persistently ignores shadows. Have you lost yours, Peter Schlemihl? Your name is now Robert Zahornicky. Permanent: The background remains in darkness. (Darkness, darkness, be my pillow.) Listen to the sounds of the night. (Can you hear me, Robert?) Zahornicky carries light into the dark: Photographically. Lucifer, fallen angel, meaning "bringer of light." Exposes sunflowers - no moon shines brightly -, palm fronds, apple tree and agave. Weeping willows because the shadow has left them? Whereas Orchi-day and night. The birch trees have no bark, while the leaves reflect the light in white. There I sit reflecting and make it equal to the leaves - until an incidence comes and somewhere a bicycle (chrome flashing). Structures, seen objectively. Far and wide no living being. People are asleep. The stone gentleman with his lady and infant is drawing on his block of marble, unmoved. Painter angel hard. (Angel worship.) Who knows? I black.
(Manfred Chobot, 1986)