SAXUM is based around a set of large-format, high-resolution photographs that Martin Schgaguler took during multiple trips across the Italian Dolomites.
The series is dealing with the phenomenon “Loss of Self-Concept” that many alpinists describe during their expeditions.
"Mountains are fascinating, it is probably because they give spiritual impulses and inspire to engage with one's own existence” says Schgaguler. Due to physical exhaustion while hiking through high-altitude-landscapes, one gradually loses the "Concept-Of-Self" and begins to merge with the natural world. This state, combined with the imposing landscape, has the capacity to alter one's view of the world – for a moment one can grasp the entire universe. Schgaguler made the photographs of the SAXUM series in such instants of great physical fatigue, capturing personal moments of oneness with the natural world.
