Artist Statement
I am a photographer who works within portrait and street photography. Working in these photogarphic polarities has taught me a great deal about the nature of the medium as a capture technology and as a way of exploring gender and identity. When I am taking photographs on the street I am always alert to changes within situations and the environment. Working in this way, has enabled me to work in a spontaneous and reactive manner responding to situations such as my Polaroid series on Covid-19, The World Contagion. In the studio the process is very different. I plan my photoshoots looking at the color spectrum, at composition and the message that each photograph should contain. My desire in both situations is to capture the importance of the moment and produce art that speak both to me and the viewer.
In my photographic series, The Seven Deadly Sins I want to address contemporary issues and in particular how gender and identity are constructed and formed. The theme has been explored many times previously and I want to bring a new understanding to this through my own personal experience as a young woman from Ukraine. To produce this work I began to foreground and center myself as the subject within the art. One of the difficulties that I encountered is that when you photograph yourself that you have to allow the technology to dictate some of the outcomes. This was initially difficult but i was able to embrace the technical aspects. An example of this is the loss of control and sharpness and utilise the 'softness' of the appearance of the image in creating an image that portrays mystery and drama. I tend to work on several bodies of work at the same time as I have discovered that one body nourishes the other.
I aim is always to experiment and immerse myself with techniques and tools within each project, but the perspective, tension, and passion I have for the image remains consistent. In my work I want to make visual and thematic connections and discover answers to my own questions. My aim is to continue to experiment, place myself always within the work and ultimately to overcome my own fears and boundaries.