Kuro Ni Kuro - Bondó, 2016

Kuro Ni Kuro by photographer Dereck Hard is a series of minimalist still lives. The name means "black on black" in Japanese. This series served as an art-therapy as the artist went through a complicated relationship. Items on photos remind him of the unhappy romance. Here, the photographer captured bloodstained handcuffs. This work is a metaphor of a love affair, which can turn into a bondage, captivity, when people are bound not by feelings, but by routine and habit. It is immensely difficult to break such bond, it is both burdensome and obsessive.