Inspired by his “own vision of landscape,” Samir Belhamra crafts scenes that blend reality with fantasy. Based in southern France, the visual artist has no shortage of beautiful scenery to inspire him, from its azure coasts to its lavender fields. For his latest endeavor, however, Belhamra has crafted an imagined world typified by a sense of tranquility and evoking the Smell of Silence.
Like many of his other projects, Smell of Silence simultaneously showcases Belhamra's passion for photography and his digital art skills. Together, these talents allow the artist to conjure up dreamy landscapes that are based in reality yet simultaneously surreal. What sets this series apart from his other work, however, is its focus on what Belhamra describes as his “vision of silence.”
To evoke quietude, Belhamra presents landscapes void of movement and without a trace of humankind. Relying on satisfying compositions—including a crescent moon and a cloud aligned above a beach—and relaxing patterns, like rippled sand and starry skies, Belhamra is able to conjure up a sense of calm and capture the quiet side of nature.
Why spotlight silence? To Belhrama, “silence is the highest form of thought.” By embracing what he describes as a “mute attention,” he believes that we can, ultimately, find our place in the universe—or, at the very least, in the worlds that he creates.
In his series, Smell of Silence, Samir Belhamra creates meditative landscapes that blend the real with the imaginary.
