Echoes of Self is Ton Schless’s seven-chapter exploration of memory, identity, and the passage of time in pursuit of his Ikigai, a Japanese concept meaning life’s purpose. Created using a 4×5″ large-format camera and the 1800s hand-coated dry plate technique on glass, the series of self-portraits employs natural metaphors to construct a deeply introspective narrative. Each chapter, ranging from Travel Memories and Whispers of Dreams to Silent Horizons and The Pulse of Nature, reveals a distinct facet of Schless’s evolving identity and the persistent echoes of his past.
Central to the work is the physical and philosophical engagement with imperfection. The bubbles, streaks, and light leaks inherent in the dry plate process become visual metaphors for the fragility of memory and the unpredictability of life. Schless’s slow, deliberate methodology mirrors the act of reflection itself, inviting viewers into a quiet space of contemplation.
Using ISO-2 plates sensitive only to ultraviolet and blue light, the photographs embody both uncertainty and discovery. By fusing process, metaphor, and performance, Schless offers a body of work that transcends autobiography, inviting viewers to explore their Ikigai within his meditative landscapes.
Echoes of Self will be presented in a series of chapters of 10 – 20 photos each:
Echoes of Self – Travel Memories
Echoes of Self – Whispers of Dreams
Echoes of Self – Ties that Bind
Echoes of Self – Silent Horizons
Echoes of Self – Traces of Belonging
Echoes of Self – Reflection of Tomorrow
Echoes of Self – The Pulse of Nature
In Traces of Belonging, Ton Schless invites viewers into a contemplative exploration of identity, memory, and the imprint of presence upon the natural world. As a chapter within his larger body of work, Echoes of Self, this series of self-portraits reflects a deeply personal yet universal meditation on what it means to belong, not through possession, but through resonance.
Photographed using the 4×5″ dry plate process and set within remote landscapes, these images slow time and perception. Schless stages his body as subject and vessel, engaging directly with elements such as roots, stone, wind, and soil. These natural forms become metaphors for lineage, impermanence, and quiet connection. Rather than asserting identity, the work traces its contours, like a hand against lichen-covered rock or a body resting within a circle of branches.
Throughout the series, time becomes an active force: softening edges, erasing distinction, and blurring the boundary between self and earth. What emerges are subtle residues of presence, visual echoes that suggest belonging not as a static state, but as an evolving, fragile relationship between memory and place in search of his Ikigai.
Traces of Belonging offers no definitive answers, only gentle recognitions: we are shaped by what we move through, and in return, we leave behind traces, visible only to those who pause to look.
In Silent Horizons, a chapter of the larger Echoes of Self project, Ton Schless presents a meditative body of self-portraiture that examines the intersection of identity, memory, and the temporal experience of being. Created through the historical 4×5-inch dry plate process, these images utilize the landscape as a reflective surface, one that mirrors the artist’s ongoing search for Ikigai. This Japanese concept embodies life’s purpose and meaning.
The series invites engagement through its rich layering of metaphors. Each portrait is set in an expansive natural environment where stillness becomes a site for introspection and transformation. Schless’s use of light, gesture, and elemental textures emphasizes the subtle emotional terrain navigated within each frame. The horizon functions not as a destination but as a liminal space, where the boundaries between self and environment blur, and where inner contemplation meets outer expanse.
Silent Horizons presents viewers with a cohesive and conceptually rigorous project that possesses both visual and emotional resonance. Its themes of quiet resilience, existential reflection, and personal mythology create fertile ground for dialogue about identity and temporality in contemporary photographic practice in search of Ikigai
In the Ties that Bind chapter, Ton Schless presents a series of self-portraits that investigate the unseen forces shaping identity, memory, and the passage of time. Working with the performative possibilities of the photographic medium, Schless explores his search for ikigai, a deep-rooted Japanese concept of life’s purpose that serves as both an anchor and a compass in a shifting world.
Each image is constructed through deliberate physical engagement, placing the artist’s body within natural landscapes that serve as both metaphor and stage. Gestures, shadows, and the interplay of stillness and motion form a visual language that facilitates internal transformation. These compositions transcend self-representation, presenting a layered narrative of vulnerability, endurance, and quiet renewal.
Schless’s work engages with the broader discourse on self-portraiture and environmental context, making Ties that Bind well-suited for exhibitions examining identity, time-based practice, and the intersection of the human and natural worlds. This series invites dialogue about how personal mythology and embodied experience reflect universal human themes, connection, grounding, and meaning, within the contemporary condition, inviting the viewer to contemplate their Ikigai.
Whispers of Dreams, the second chapter of Echoes of Self, traces the delicate echoes of nocturnal reverie and the fleeting nature of memory. In this body of work, Ton Schless presents a series of introspective self-portraits that explore how dreams, though ephemeral, leave lasting impressions on identity and inner purpose.
Each image reflects the tension between the dream world’s vivid, often surreal intensity and the quiet stillness of waking life. As these impressions dissolve with the morning light, their emotional resonance lingers, calm, persistent, and deeply personal. Schless uses natural metaphors and the historic dry plate process to render these inner visions with poetic fragility, drawing viewers into moments suspended between presence and absence.
Whispers of Dreams invites reflection on the power of unseen inner experiences, those subtle, transient glimpses that shape an individual’s ikigai and sense of self. Honoring what is easily forgotten, the series suggests that the most fleeting images may carry the most significant meaning.
In Travel Memories, Ton Schless reflects on a lifetime of business journeys that have quietly shaped his personal narrative. This chapter explores the intersection of professional ambition and inner transformation, using self-portraiture to chart a path through the physical and emotional landscapes encountered along the way. Set against a backdrop of diverse terrains, from frenetic cityscapes to isolated expanses of stillness, each image captures the complex duality of travel: its outward motion and its inward pull.
Employing the 4×5″ dry plate process, Schless slows time to revisit fleeting moments of connection, disorientation, and revelation. The series contemplates how movement through the world leaves behind subtle imprints, both in place and in self, revealing the tension between achievement and introspection, solitude and connection.
Rather than viewing these journeys solely as professional milestones, Travel Memories positions them as pivotal points of self-examination. In doing so, it invites viewers to consider how the rhythms of work and the search for purpose often unfold simultaneously, shaping identity with every border crossed. This chapter stands as a quiet homage to the transformative nature of travel and the enduring resonance of the places we pass through and the versions of ourselves we leave behind.
