A Gathering of Gold

About this piece

Mike Gedj’s close overhead view gathers koi into a dense composition of vermilion, gold, and blue. Ripples bend the outlines of their bodies, while scattered highlights and visible scales hold the photograph between abstraction and animal presence.

The story

Looking down, I found almost no empty water. The koi crossed beneath one another, their backs appearing and disappearing through folds of reflected blue. I followed the brief openings where an eye, a mouth, or a line of scales became clear. Each movement rearranged the picture before I could settle on it. I wanted to hold that restless closeness: so many separate lives making one luminous, shifting surface.