Image Courtesy of Elizaveta Porodina and Josef Bayer.
For most artists, making art is the only way to process life. It is like a deep cluster of emotions that won’t dissolve unless it is able to break out. That is at least how it sounds when Elizaveta Porodina describes why she started to delve into the world of photography. Growing up in Russia and then moving to Germany, her life has been characterized by the feeling of instability and seeking to find a place where she feels like she belongs. To follow society’s norms, she started to study psychology but quickly Porodina realized that this path wasn’t one to fulfill her life. Still, the deep interest in human psychology stayed present in her work even as a photographer. Elizaveta Porodina emerges as a visionary, crafting stories that transcend the ordinary. With her lens, she doesn’t just capture moments; she orchestrates entire universes, where light dances with shadow, and emotion intertwines with aesthetics in a mesmerizing ballet.
Til August 18th, Fotografiska Berlin will serve as the grounds to display Elizaveta Porodina’s exhibition Un/Masked, a collection of works in which the photographer invites us to peer behind our masks, exploring darkness and light.
Cecil, masked, Paris 2021. Image Courtesy of Elizaveta Porodina.
Vivien Solari, 2021. Image Courtesy of Elizaveta Porodina.
SLEEK: Your creative journey started with painting. You decided on photography because you mentioned that it has no limits, why do you feel that way?
Elizaveta Porodina: It is a personal thing, I am not comparing the mediums with each other. When I was drawing, I was just alone by myself in my room and it didn’t push me to go further. But for me, art is happening when you are also growing as a person while doing so because everything you put out is a reflection of your being. While I was painting, I felt like I just stood still.
S: This thought reflects your way of working since you also mentioned working with muses and people that inspire you. Your photography seems like a deep dive into human psychology, has that always been your motive?
EP: I see an aura and not just a beautiful person; their soul and what drives them as a person. I am asking myself how life has shaped the person and I want to look deep inside. A twelve-hour shoot is the perfect opportunity for that. On set, I want to see their passion and how they handle different situations. Humans are so abstract that you can’t really grasp them, which makes them so fascinating. It all sound a bit spiritual.
Julia Banas, 2021. Image Courtesy of Elizaveta Porodina.
S: How do you capture such abstract feelings that seem so otherworldly in a photograph?
EP: Is it really not human? There is so much around us and I just want to see the core of it, I want to understand it all. If you are exploring how everything has been formed, you can’t just look past the abstract part. The motifs I use such as childhood, parents, angels and death are present in everyone’s life. You need to process those thoughts and I use this inelegant-sounding metaphor of seeing myself as some kind of machine. I am so sensitive to my senses, I hear, see and feel so much. The problem only starts when I can’t let it out.
S: As your photography is so closely intertwined with confronting your emotions, how do you transfer that to fashion photography?
EP: For people from the outside, the subject of fashion seems like a one-dimensional fixed topic. But you can create. It is my decision to take on a job, clients know how I work and approach me.
S: Most of your photographs include women. As a woman photographing women, do you feel pressured to position yourself in a certain way in the industry?
EP: I am a photographer, not an advocate. There are no political or socioecological messages in my works. What I create comes from this feeling of isolation which is my own story. It is about my own journey and me spending a lot of time hating myself because I exited in a system where as a woman, I was taught to only focus on my weaknesses. Still, I could never say I speak for all women because all experiences are so different. I don’t want my work to be reduced to only one message.
Window, Paris 2021. Image Courtesy of Elizaveta Porodina.
LEFT Maggie I, Zoom, to London, 2021. Image Courtesy of Elizaveta Porodina. RIGHT Vivien Solari II, 2021. Image Courtesy of Elizaveta Porodina.
S: When looking at your own work, would you consider your photographs as dark?
EP: After finding myself it made me feel a lot of emotions and I felt so manipulated by the world around me. Seeing my strength made me feel very proud and this state of positive acceptance is reflected in my photographs.
S: The pictures from the series In Zoom seem much brighter. For most people, it was a difficult time, how come this contrast in those photographs?
EP: I was feeling very happy at that time. I do understand that it was difficult but I loved staying at home with my husband and my cat. There for sure was this feeling of insecurity but I felt like it was this collective feeling of being lost.
S: When you talk about your own life, you are saying that is has been characterized by instability. Photography has been a tool for you to process life but being a photographer is also your job now. Does that change the relationship you have to the medium?
EP: No, I am always ready to take a step back again. The moment it feels obligatory and like a job, the core of my work changes. When the authenticity is gone, my work doesn’t have substance anymore.