John Evjen – Five Photographs

fipl

bathe

2stark

shine

sentient

Artist’s Statement on Beauty

Roots up, beauty is our body reacting to the spiritual. The otherworldly takes a hold of us once we notice it and our bodies manifest a reaction. When I consider beauty I consider these words in Edgar Allan Poe’s Marginalia: “They (fancies) arise in the soul (alas, how rarely!) only at its epochs of most intense tranquillity — when the bodily and mental health are in perfection — and at those mere points of time where the confines of the waking world blend with those of the world of dreams.” What Poe is trying to impart unto us, creators, is that beauty occurs in those moments of coincidence, hence people’s different reactions to great works.

After two academic exchanges to Germany, John Evjen began his undergraduate studying focusing on German education and translation theory at the University of Alberta. In 2015, he joined the Inaugural Class of the Peter Lougheed Leadership College, where he works with university sexual assault policy and sustainable energy development. Apart from university, he coaches competitive water polo and leads a Christian youth group. More at: flickr.com.