Abraham Votroba’s Inner Journey is that rare body of work that successfully captures and conveys an emotional state.
From the moment we see the first image that was taken through a car’s rain-splattered windshield it is clear that we are on a journey through a storm and the tension is palpable. The highly prominent, star-born cross in silhouette indicates that this is a journey of emotional significance.
We are driven through this journey by the recurring images of the cross, first on the inside of the windshield and then in the form of the telephone posts visible on the outside. The latter reappear throughout this series, symbolically alluding to the narrative as it unfolds. In the first image they evoke an alternating sense of foreboding and hope We are not sure whether the crosses of the telephone poles echo the religious cross inside the window and mark the path forward or whether they are standing in the way. In subsequent images, the high-tension wires reflect the heightened emotions of the travelers inside the car. In the following images, the crosses become more propitious as we see them whizzing by and then, in a sweeping shot in vanishing perspective, they seem to indicate the promising trajectory of this journey.
The tension created by the reappearing crosses is reinforced in other ways as we move through the series. The double exposures and blurs created by the moving vehicle evoke a sense of hurtling through space in an almost-out-of-control manner. We are emotionally unsettled—there is uncertainty, there is concern— and things feel unresolved.
But there are more reassuring notes symbolized by the birds that are able to transcend the pressing emotions below and soar beautifully against the sky. However, even in these images the blurring created by the moving car and the double exposures lends a certain eerie quality to the immediate surge of hope evoked by the image of the bird. And because the birds appear in a strange angle against the landscape there remains a sense of disorientation. This feeling comes to a head when we see the surreal cow from the highway warning sign which has become airborne, joining the birds in flight.
Whether one has the impression that these images have sprung from the depths of the subconscious or that there is a young Fellini at work, the resulting effect is the same—we are witnessing a journey on which a seriously ill father is being taken to a hospital with the hope of healing and recovery. We understand the importance of the father and of the home to the psyche. This series addresses a universal condition. While much of the contemporary work today tells a story, Inner Journey goes beyond that and addresses a state of mind. While other contemporary work focuses on a specific place or specific people, Abraham Votroba is concerned with conveying emotions that are both urgent and universal. He addresses issues of the psyche that concern all of us.
Also departing from much contemporary work is the technique the artist uses to make each of these images. Abraham Votroba adopts a new approach that enables him to present a particular emotional process. He looks first for symbols and then for the emotional tension that combining images can provide. The symbols are his anchor, while the layering of images, or double exposures serves to convey the emotional content. Because the double exposures are composed in an intuitive way they are successful in evoking the emotional state.
Double exposures have a rich tradition in photography and we see that Abraham Votroba has taken this technique one step further. We recall that Harry Callahan used multiple camera exposures in the 1950s to give trees in the landscape an eerie vibrating feeling. In the 1960s we see Frederick Sommer using an in-camera double exposure of Max Ernst superimposed on a rugged wall to render “that angelic restlessness of Solomon . . .”. Probably the most famous images using multiple exposures are those made by Jerry Ulesman who used multiple negatives to produce a single print. Ulesmann also began in the 1960s to use a process he called “post-visualization” where he combines different images to create symbols and metaphors. Abraham Votroba builds on this tradition by using several exposures in a “post-production” process to create a single image. This process offers him two opportunities to work with his intuition—first, when the exposure was made on the journey with his father to the hospital and, second, when all of the images are viewed together after the journey and two images are selected to combine. For example, by combining several blurred images of telephone poles with their crossed bars carrying high-tension wires, Votroba evokes a feeling of anxiety because the same view from the car window is unexpectedly repeated in a single image. Also, because one of the images is printed lighter we have a feeling that it is from the past and we are thus confronted head-on with the passage of time. In another image a bird soaring against the clouds up high is printed over an image of a track disappearing into the distance. This superimposed image also elicits a sense of “soaring”, not only because of the bird but also because of the tracks pulling us into a more promising future. To sum up, Abraham Votroba has used honored photographic techniques in an innovative and intuitive way to create compelling images that address a universal human emotion.

Frazier King