Caroline Kist, It’s that you’re here, 2024

My brother is a beacon. Reinoud has Down’s syndrome. When he was five years old, I arrived in his life: a world shaped differently, in which the wisdom of the body has not been lost and the spirit is not constricted by reason.

His world is magnetic, it pulls and feels safe. There within, things can take on other forms: minuscule becomes magnanimous, and what is considered immense is scaled to minor. In his world everything is rooted, unconditioned and unconditional. He holds no judgements, no desires for more, he is not burdened by the compulsion of efficiency. In his world, sadness and joy can spill through into a single moment. And his existence is unquestioned, it just is.

I observe his world, I merge within his world. In reality and in imagination. And the camera observes too. From close and afar.

– Caroline Kist