A butter box becomes a construction plank, a construction plank become a house, a house becomes a gravestone. People, plants, and animal press against the frame, caught between stillness and escape. The gaze moves between public and private spaces, searching for meaning, form and boundaries. Light fades to darkness, darkness returns to light.

"The Garden" is a personal and ongoing body of work made between 202 and 2025. It traces life in a new city, the arrival of a child, and the pul between a former home and the present — the desire to escape, to fit in to take root somewhere, while remaining unable or unwilling to fully do so.

The photographs are arranged in five sequences, each connecting to the next, and form part of a larger body of work taking the form of a book. I emerges from a recognition of our contemporary condition, the sensation of being spectral witnesses to our own lives as moments slip beyond our grasp.

In staying with the familiar, something shifts. The ordinary reveals itself a more than it first appeared. The photograph does not simply record. I transforms, quietly, both the one who made it and the one who looks.

It was an honor to review the moving and dedicated projects submitted to the Personal Award. I'm grateful to the participating artists for sharing their work.

Ville Varumo’s The Garden tells a deeply personal story about the ruptures in life that completely destabilize us. The arrival of a new baby and relocation to a different city make life feel strange, remote, and not quite one's own. A veil of fear, suspicion, and doubt hangs over everyday encounters. I was impressed by how Varumo was able to make these feelings—both intimate and profoundly relatable—resonate palpably across their photographs while keeping their murkiness intact.

— Marina Chao • Curator, Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW

Photography, 100x140cmPhotography, 100x140cm