║ Carrie Will ║

© Carrie Will, from the series I Am Redundant

© Carrie Will, Rikki and Carrie, Fire Island, from the series I Am Redundant

“I am redundant, half of a whole, a freak, identical and lucky. The relationship I have with my twin sister is tightly woven, beautifully strange and difficult to explain. This has led me to explore a visual language that articulates the intimacy and the oddity of being a twin.  Having been subjected to stares and double takes my whole life, I use photography to exaggerate the gaze of others and to illustrate the interconnectedness of our identity.  It is difficult to see yourself as an individual when no one else does. My photographs aim at grasping the idea that I am one person as well as two and discovering what that looks like.”

To see more of Carrie’s work click here

║ Rebecca Ann Hobbs ║

© Rebecca Ann Hobbs, Pot Shot, 2005

© Rebecca Ann Hobbs, Crack, 2005

║ Christian Thompson ║

© Christian Thompson, Untitled #2, from the series Australian Graffiti, 2008

© Christian Thompson, Untitled #7, from the series Australian Graffiti, 2008

To see more of Christian’s work click here

║ Susanne Junker ║

© Susanne Junker, The Perfect Woman Is A Lie, from the series Woman, 2006

© Susanne Junker, The Perfect Woman Is No Lie #1, from the series Woman, 2006

© Susanne Junker, The Perfect Woman Is No Lie #3, from the series Woman, 2006

Photographiée par les plus importants photographes de mode elle fera les couvertures du ELLE et autres grands magazines de mode.
En 1999 elle décide de tout arrêter pour se réapproprier son image en se photographiant par morceaux choisis.
Son travail apparaît alors comme une quête identitaire avant de projeter son regard sur le monde. Son passage obligé au plus proche de son quotidien de jeune femme naissante donne lieux à toute une série d’autoportraits crus réalisés entre 1999 et 2001 et qui feront partis du groupe d’œuvres appelé « Stage Back » en contradiction affirmée avec le diktat des studios de mode.
Suivra un premier positionnement engagé et dénonciateur avec « FIGURE FOR THE BASE OF A CRUCIFICTION » qui amorce une réflexion sur l’acceptabilité de la position de la femme contemporaine telle qu’elle est vécue aujourd’hui avec ses repères imposés qui aboutit à la récente phase de son travail,
« THE PERFECT WOMAN IS A LIE ».”

Source: Acte2Galerie

To see more of Susanne’s work click here

║ Manuel Botelho ║

© Manuel Botelho, 93.rç-cmb, from the series Confidential/declassified; ração de combate, 2007-2008

© Manuel Botelho, 93.rç-cmb, from the series Confidential/declassified; emboscada, 2007-2008

“A fictional trend is apparent in every dimension of Manuel Botelho’s work: in painting and drawing, and now in his photography.

That trend is more evocative than narrative, more descriptive than illustrative, more architectural than dramatic and, strangely enough, more rational than emotional.

Indeed, nothing is told in the scenes that he stages […]; nothing is explained, no continuous action can be perceived. Nonetheless, everything expresses a discourse that is evocative of a real situation and which obsessively details its scenic elements […] without ever limiting itself to any historicist or naturalistic logic.

Here, it is a matter of using elements drawn from a specific war (the Portuguese colonial war) to speak about that war and all other wars […]. Extending a practice already present in his paintings and drawings, the artist turns to self-representation. He now appears in the role of soldier-as-symbol-of-all-soldiers, thus also self-representing the artist at war […] with himself.

Ração de combate consists of a group of images that we may think of as still-lives. The human presence is strong, but due to its fragmented character, it can only be understood as yet one more of the still-life’s elements […]. And the accumulation of board games, dice and playing cards, old bank notes and unappetising food, ashtrays, cigarette stubs and secret maps, classified documents and military or secretarial objects – along with the aggressive or disturbing way all this is assembled – enhances the psychological atmosphere we associate with war.

Moving away from the universes where he started from, Manuel Botelho places himself at a new frontier. But that evolution occurs in full poetic coherence: while remaining within the confines of a strict grid, his pieces generate a very high inner tension […]; photography and colour add an unpleasant weight to these realistic testimonials, repelling rather than attracting us, going beyond the real rather than just depicting it.”

João Pinharanda

To see more of Manuel’s work click here

║ Javier Marquerie Thomas ║

© Javier Marquerie Thomas, Beltrán, from the series Flight of Fancy, 2007

© Javier Marquerie Thomas, Vivian, from the series Flight of Fancy, 2007

“Flight of Fancy; to daydream.

Between the impetus of infancy and the inertia of maturity. “The best years of our lives”. Years envied, idealized, over rated. An extensive cloud of anecdotes. An accumulation of memories without a clear continuity. In retrospect, a “phase”. During puberty, we are conditioned to successfully confront the “real world”, but instead we live in a disoriented fantasy; hybrid between something that really has been and a tale.

My mother tongue, apart from Spanish, is English which lead me to being an English teacher. A few years back one of my classes was with two businessmen. We had one-hour classes, twice a week. I was twenty, they were sixty; married, with children and one of them with grandchildren. I was going home to a mattress on the floor and pending bills to pay. The irony of this all seemed somewhat funny, mostly however, it saddened me. Not because of the mattress, this I liked, but because of the realisation that I was now a grown-up. From one day to the next that desire for maturity had turned into something tangible and the image I sought of my self was no longer so pleasant to carry.

Flight of Fancy is a catalogue of characters, fictions conceived as sociological documents of a transformation period. After that leap towards utopia: that is adolescence, we land by inertia into a scripted role, only to find a fiction completely alien to out smattering of adulthood.

Inevitably, in the current, we remain.”

Javier Marquerie Thomas

To see more of Javier’s work click here

║ Katarina Radovic ║

© Katarina Radovic, Untitled #7, from the series Women, 2004/05

© Katarina Radovic, Untitled #17, from the series Women, 2004/05

“In this series of (self-) portraits I am presenting imaginary types of women that I find attractive, according to a somewhat twisted taste.
These fictive female characters are parodies of the values imposed by society and culture but, within the stereotypical systems of representation, then eventually reveal their “faces”, expressing their unique fantasies and madness.
(…)
“Women” are not just the result of exploring the possibilities of emancipation in a society marked by gender differences; they are fabrications of everyday life, an endless obsession with seduction, hiding and showing, and with the permanent questioning of the essence of feminine principle in a perverse space of a benign irony.”

Katarina Radovic

To see more of Katarina’s work click here

║ Wilma Hurskainen ║

© Wilma Hurskainen, Untitled, from the series No Name, 2007 -

© Wilma Hurskainen, Untitled, from the series No Name, 2007 -

© Wilma Hurskainen, Untitled, from the series No Name, 2007 -

“In my new series No Name I go further with the themes of childhood and memory. This time childhood and adulthood, like layers, are present in the same photograph. I re-create my memories, some of which are false or invented, and continue the visual representation of these memories by loosely attaching texts to the pictures. By doing this I try to find out and question the means a text and a photograph use to mediate a story(memory. A text seems a lot more straightforward in its narration; and yet it is the photograph that has an indexical relation to the past. The reader/spectator takes a different position towards the text than the photograph. I hope that looking at the series could resemble the actual, complex process of remembering and the constant re-writing of a memoru. At the same time, the texts comment on the photographic representations and the posssibilities of posing for a photograph.”

Wilma Hurskainen

To see ore of Wilma’s work click here

║ Mário Ambrózio ║

© Mário Ambrózio, Untitled, from the series The Strong Man, 2007/2008

© Mário Ambrózio, Untitled, from the series The Strong Man, 2007/2008

To see more of  Mário’s work click here

║ Cornelia Hediger ║

© Cornelia Hediger, Untitled #13, from the series Doppelgänger

© Cornelia Hediger, Untitled #16, from the series Doppelgänger

“The lush colors and ‘sweet’ dresses might draw the viewer into the image but then when you stand there for a while you might realize that there is something off and not quite right. Personally I’m more interested in a silent scream than having blood gushing all over the place. I do realize, however, that I’m walking a fine line and some of my images might be a bit over the top like the fish image (Doppelgänger 4-01-07). There is nothing subtle about this image and I can see how this would be a criticism. Some of the other images are more quiet and not as obvious and therefore perhaps more effective. I’m aware of the problems in each image, I spend a lot of time with them, and yet I decided to let the fish image live because it was honest at the moment when I created it. Perhaps the Doppelgänger series is a bit like my ‘creepy’ doll collection. The dolls look all sweet and innocent but deep down you know that they are up to no good, ha!”

excerpt of an interview by the cinemascapist. To read the full interview click here

To see more of Cornelia’s work click here

║ Aaron Hobson ║

© Aaron Hobson, Far Away, from the series Femme Vérité, 2009

© Aaron Hobson, Subterranean Encounter, from the series Even Darker, 2007

“Where does the image begin for you: the setting, the character, a story you’re trying to build?

Definitely the setting. I try to find a location that has interesting natural lighting, stand there for minute, then return to my beaten-up 2001 Hyundai full of old clothes, a shovel, empty wine bottles, duffel bags, McDonald’s bags, and choose what I think might work. It is very spontaneous, almost instinctual. I like to keep the storylines minimal and leave that part to the viewer’s imagination.

How much inspiration does “Cinemascapes” draw from specific films or directors? How much from your own life or where you live?

Hardly any of my images draw from a particular film or director. I did however grow up on movies, television, and computers and was inspired to bring the same appeal that those media deliver—to people of my generation and younger—using still images.

Essentially my cinemascapes are autobiographical. I just tend to exaggerate or embellish my memory of what happened or where it happened. Those that know me well, know that I embellish a lot of things, not just my life’s story.”

excerpt from an interview by Rosecrans Baldwin for The Morning News

To see more of Aaron’s work click here

║ Tobias & Joseph Feltus ║

© Tobias & Joseph Feltus, Two Gentlemen, 2.11.2008

© Tobias & Joseph Feltus, Two Gentlemen, 2.4.2008

© Tobias & Joseph Feltus, Imaginary Film Still (6.15-4.18), 2006

To see more of the Feltus’ work click here

║ Inbal Sivan ║

© Inbal Sivan, Baroque, 2003

© Inbal Sivan, Nude, 2007

“Inbal Sivan’s images borrow heavily from traditions in art history, including aspects of the “male gaze.” It entails inactive women looking at some vague point off-camera suggesting that they are not engaged with their audience (or with anything) but rather have appeared, conveniently, to be looked at. Ironically, the art Sivan references in her work has been made almost exclusively by men. The images created by these men are laden with burdens; long-standing conventions of art history, sexual interest and social gender roles. As a female artist, Sivan feels less encumbered by these things. While her awareness of the “traditional” female archetype influences her aesthetic, she takes hold of the freedom to transcend that aspect of art featuring women. For example, in Untitled (Nude), Sivan is in control of all facets of her photograph i.e. posing and placing her model in a contrived setting thus enabling her personal vision of what a portrait or a nude should be: simply a personal investigation of beauty.

Source: Gallery 10G

To see more of Inbal’s work click here

║ Sofia Silva ║

© Sofia Silva, Fiber Organic Memory, from the series Memory’s Architecture, 2009 (work in progress)

© Sofia Silva, Losing Inner Heat, from the series Memory’s Architecture, 2009 (work in progress)

“Although alcohol isn’t a medicine, it can provoke the sensation of regeneration and strength, distorting an impetus of momentary courage. At the same time we feel it kills our thirst and feed us, what it really does is to bring the blood to the surface of the skin, in fact impairing the functioning of all the organs able to emit the sensation of strength, heat, hunger or thirst.
“Memory’s Architecture” is a series that started out from the will to reflect upon the sensations experienced (and/or lost) before, during and after moments of coexistence marked by the absence of alcohol.
Here, the alcohol is a key element. Each of these photographs is the result of an exercise to revisit the past, always bearing in mind that the memory of what we have no access to will forever be, solely and exclusively, recorded in the memory of others and in devices that allow to file it, leaving it to be part of a future that, although documenting us, no longer belong to us.”
Sofia Silva

║ Kumi Oguro ║

© Kumi Oguro, Sky, from the series Noise I, 2007

© Kumi Oguro, Noise, from the series Noise II, 2005

© Kumi Oguro, Far, from the series Noise III, 2004

“Perhaps unwittingly or even in spite of itself, Kumi Oguro’s photographic work has from the outset been drawn towards cinema. This influence has led the photographer to explore the theoretical, historic, visual and manifestly numerous relationships between her own photography and the language of cinema. This permeation could not be described as a debt in the strict sense, nor is it nurtured by explicit or obliging citations or references. Instead it feels its way, spontaneously seeking its own path and its own markers.

From her earliest exhibitions and publications and even in the recent developments of her highly personal series “NOISE”, compiled here in the coherent form of a book, these relationships (the staging of locations, placing bodies in real-life situations, the expressionist use of light, the theatrical play between actors, indications of an off-camera area, effects designed to create tension, veiled references to the logic of genres, etc.) have become undeniably more complex, but also increasingly diverse.”

Emmanuel d’Autreppe

To see more of Kumi”s work click here