Tuesday, April 2, 2013

" Empty Spaces " by Katerina Belkina; A Fascinating Self-Portrait Series

Russian photographer Katerina Belkina puts the 'self-portrait' phenomenon in a new setting. With unprecedented technical precision, Belkina uses the refined possibilities of digital photography in order to present a disquieting image of the new woman in a postmodern world.

In her work, Belkina shows herself as a distant character in different roles, thus putting her own individuality into perspective, while at the same time addressing the viewer. As a modern, makable creature, the woman is turned into a new heroine in the story which is both recognizable and mysterious. Does she coincide with the archetypal figures from age-old fairy tales and folk tales (Blue Beard, Little Red Riding Hood, The Little Mermaid, Odette, Rose Red and Snow White) in which her role as a woman seemed clearly defined, or does an underlying layer appear, which disrupts this assumed familiarity?

Empty Spaces takes on the form of a metropolis. However, this urbanized world is artificial and purely materialistic and, as a tiny dot in this constructed whole, man feels even more lonely and abandoned. In Belkina's vision, the metropolis has created a new type of human, in which only a hint of consciousness of the connection with the true universe is present.

Katerina Belkina lives and works in Moscow.


KATERINA BELKINA
Empty Spaces
Red Moscow
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova

The Flight
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova

Enter
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova

Fly
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova

Metro
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova

The Road
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova

Weighing
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova

Morning Message
Copyright © Katerina Belkina, courtesy Gallery Lilja Zakirova






1 comment:

  1. They are so slick and strange. Yes, I agree this woman seems disconnected from the turmoil and disasters happening around her, right outside her window. And that seems very sad. Maybe, she will figure it out. Maybe, she will wake up. That is the hope that she'll turn her head and see.

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