My photographic practice values the surrealist experience of being in space. My aspiration is to depict the momentarily real; I use portraiture to observe the individual as a subject. I record a flash and grasp a moment in the floating present.
Nikita spielt: Meeting Nikita involves drinking beer, lots of it that is; as a nano-influencer on Instagram, he likes posing through playing with the idea of being Ghetto. He ridicules everything and everyone, especially though the stereotypes that relate to both his past and present self.
In valuing the information hidden within the fabric, Aleftina Karasyova retrieves a story, a cut, a form and a materiality. Through deconstructing the garment, she re-tells its story and adds new value by rebuilding it.
This series of photographs explores the separation of nature and the built environment in London. The images describe a taming of nature and its restriction to the outside. With time however, this process is reversed, and nature reclaims its initial possession. The blurring of the image creates a space for the imaginary to transform into the real.
Dimensional Shift: An urban environment consists of layers that are created by history, which itself is an accumulation of events throughout the course of time. Borders, whether visible or invisible, divide an urban landscape into separate divisions, where individuals coexists, dependent on their personal set of experiences. These photographs speak to an awareness of layers of meanings that are present within the city and multiplicity of place and space.
Chasing a Landscape: This photographic series is an investigation of the notion of exploring places, spaces and landscapes that are abandoned and decayed. The derelict often attracts those that are in search of an experience that is gritty. The explorer is in pursuit of the authentic, while roaming through a place of wonder and adventure. A form of mental time travel is realised through the memory of the left behind. A maze of traces allows the individual to take on risks and to become courageous. It is a longing for a mindful experience of the once present, where the thirst for freedom and imagination is in harmony with ruination and trauma.
The images explore the meaning of being in space; they speak for ruins and the dreamlike, a feeling of nostalgia and the memories of a landscape.
“She is eager to establish if her transformation is complete, wants to know whether she is ready to disappear and finally decides that vanishing is the solution.” - Annelie Andre performing META