Inner Worlds: Turning to Earth and the Sky | Stéphanie Labé
Man is not some external being building his sandcastle on a deserted beach. He is the most sensitive, the most vital part of the living Universe; it is to him that Nature whispers her deepest desires, her most hidden secrets. A shift in perspective then occurs. While man becomes the inner part of the landscape, the landscape becomes the inner world of man.
Inspired by this excerpt from François Cheng’s book Five Meditations on Beauty, the series “Inner Worlds” offers introspective images that invite us to empty our minds to reconnect with ourselves by soaking up the vital energy driven by Nature.
Like a haiku, each photograph is a small poem to be experienced as a meditation on the evanescence of things and the lightness of Being. Photographs that are not to be seen as a representation of the outside world but as reflections of our inner world. I created this series in 2024, in the midst of a storm within. At that time, body, soul, and spirit rose as one—calling me home to myself, urging me to step onto a new path, to finally dare to choose the one that felt true.
Through this long passage of fear and pain—a deep reflection of the slow unfolding of healing—Nature began to speak to me. A quiet voice at first, then louder, more insistent. I came to understand that Nature could mend what was broken, if only I met her daily, if I entered her embrace with trust and tenderness. If I learnt to see what truly matters.
Walking barefoot through forests and swimming in rivers and in the sea—these became sacred rituals, daily acts of reconnection. Each day, I turned my face to the earth, to the sky, to the shifting elements, and to the birds—messengers that whispered: it is time to take flight.’
The photographic series “Inner Worlds” is an offering—a tribute to the quiet majesty of the natural world that surrounded me, and to the small things that gave me the strength to rise again: a bird aloft, a graceful twig, a drifting cloud, a shimmer on water, the wind whispering through trees, the curve of a crescent moon…
Each day, I captured what I call my inner landscapes: simple, poetic images born of intuition. I composed them instinctively, pairing them into diptychs that echo with energy and emotion—images I offer as meditations, gentle invitations to return to oneself and to the life-giving breath of Nature.
