Heavenly Bodies I

2019

UHD Video with dolby 5,1 sound
13 min, 22 sec

Digital c-prints

Through Instagram I encountered fitness instructors, bodybuilders and MMA professionals during a recidency in Riga, Latvia. Their profiles, filled with images and motivational captions, promote the idea that all personal goals are within reach, urging followers to take control and overcome fear.

Through selfies and motivational captions, they build their personal brands on social media. Heavenly Bodies' monologue is based on these captions. The film follows their communication and training which subtly questions the iconic image of the strong, independent man. To subvert the normative image of training in the gym, the fitness instructors are filmed in natural landscapes. Surrounded by greenery, their bodies may be read in light of ritual and holy practices. Reminiscent of religious communities, their path is marked by discipline and dedication.

In a world where autonomy and self-sufficiency are increasingly celebrated, these figures—along with countless others—embody the ideals of individualism, where the body becomes a space for personal reinvention and growth.

The title Heavenly Bodies subtly evokes the aspiration for something beyond the earthly or the material—a pursuit of something greater. Through their physical strength and disciplined routines, the film highlights this universal desire to transcend limits, embodying the broader cultural drive to reach ever higher, as though the sky itself is the limit.