All Saints: tender photos capturing the power of the body taking flight

A photo exhibition featuring close-ups of male athletes is on show at Berlin’s Galerie Kornfeld.

Shot by Georgian photographer David Meshki, the photographs from his All Saints series are tender and probing as they capture athletes seconds before they perform stunts requiring incredible body strength. All of the images show athletes as they push themselves off the ground, just as they take flight.

Meshki has been interested in observing sportsmen since he was a child and would accompany his father, an athlete, to tournaments. For a while, Meshki shot portraits of athletes in Soviet-era sport halls. Now, he prefers to focus solely on close-ups of the body, abstracted from its surroundings. For him, these pictures represent the turning point when he made the switch from documentary photography to art.

“Whole generations in Georgia grew up without even seeing their own naked bodies in the mirror, not to mention feeling comfortable about their nudity,” he adds. “But for me, the body is always the main tool that allows me to express myself. One can relate to and read everything through the body.”