In 2020 Erien Withouck’s fascination for overlooked figures and myths led her to the Shetland Isles. Several islanders told her of the mythical “Selkie”, a hybrid creature which has the ability to remove its seal skin and take on human form. On Midsummer’s eve, a female Selkie emerges from a foaming sea and sheds her seal skin. A man sees her on the shore: he carelessly steals her skin and makes her his wife. Always longing for the ocean, the Selkie prefers the freedom as a seal to her expected role as a good mother and housewife, she eventually reclaims her skin and returns to her former home.
This myth is the sort of transient tale that chimes with Withouck’s aesthetic and sensibility. The antagonism between the fleeting nature of oral history and the desire to capture things permanently on film raises an important question: what do we wish to remember, and what would we rather forget? A literal reconstruction of the past is neither useful nor appropriate. The camera offers the chance to play, to intersect the paths of history and imagination.
Her photographs illuminate the traces of these unknown figures and mythical creatures which escaped the pages of history books, subtly capturing the unwritten habits, routines and cultures that still slumber on in remote communities. In scenes that beautifully evoke the fisherman’s world of pounding waves and craggy cliffs, the sea – with its continuous ebb and flow between eternity and fluidity – is clearly the protagonist. This ambiguity is exposed in the imagery of Erien Withouck.
- Text by Dagmar Dirkx (.tiff)
Maria Siorba (b. 1986) is a Greek visual artist based in Athens, with an educational background in Communication, Graphic Design and Fine Arts. Taking a subtle approach to subjects of intimacy and human emotion, the notion of empathy is a cornerstone of Siorba’s artistic exploration. She examines the role that personality, mental state, emotional intelligence and cultural context play in the context of ever-evolving modes of technology and communication. Communicating and miscommunicating, her images reflect the difficulties that humans encounter in expressing themselves.
His pictures appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, British Journal of Photography, Internazionale, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times Weekend, Vogue and Vice.
He participated in several exhibitions, including at United Nations (Geneva, Switzerland, 2013) at Venice Biennale of Architecture (Venice, Italy, 2016) and Head On Photo Festival (Sidney, Australia, 2020).
In 2019 he published “Era Mare”, a book about the high water in Venice, whose proceeds went totally to the shopkeepers who needed help.
For his work about Covid-19 Matteo won the REFOCUS award by Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities (Italy) and according to ARTRIBUNE he’s the Best Italian young photographer of 2020.
Kristof Thomas’ (b. 1995, Belgium) work is radical and ruthless. Harsh colors, crisp images, manipulated to the unrecognizable. The visitor steps into montages of food and electrical wires, in unnaturally bright colors, chemically screaming, often digitally smeared and strongly edited. All indexical references are chopped and deconstructed, the work is much less about consumption than it is about the process. Not a traditional process, such as the analogue, which possesses the magical power of unpredictability. On the contrary, Thomas is in full control, he lets the beast sweat till it is down. He is not into magic but into sorcery. He creates artificial images, with no interest in reality as it manifests itself. His work is a confrontation with loops, errors and distortions that do not cause the system to fail but make it more flexible. He experiments, doubts his surroundings and tries out all his devices. He releases his work on paper, cardboard, sloppy, framed, sculptural, flat, on the floor, on the wall. Pushes out his uncertainty with cheeky confidence and leaves us guessing. Until we surrender and spin around the room.
Kristof Thomas received in 2019 a Bachelor’s degree in Photography from KASK The Royal academy of Fine arts Ghent, followed by a Visual Arts Master’s degree in 2022.
Iben Gad (b. 1997) is a Danish documentary photographer based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her work deals with identity and personal stories and, in her work, she is experimenting with different formats such as archive material, photography, graphic elements and text.In 2021 she graduated from the Danish School of Media and Journalism. She did an internship at the Danish daily Kristeligt Dagblad, studied abroad at Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in Bangladesh and participated in the Canon Student Development Programme at Visa Pour l’Image. Currently she is working as a freelance photographer.
The photographers focused on one reception centre, creating links and generating encounters by refusing to submit the refugees to further interrogation or to create stereotypical images of misery. The result of these relationships - nurtured over time - is a series of portraits.
This first project - Here, Waiting - is divided into three photographic forms. Firstly, reportage, showing the physical spaces and the realities of the reception centre. Secondly, portrait workshops were organised with the aid of a studio that was assembled during each visit. The subjects were encouraged to manipulate, colour, distort and obscure the printed images. Finally, self-portraits were taken by the children using photocopy machines – the primary bureaucratic tool of their detention.
The photographs are situated within this relationship: there is neither a sovereign author nor centre of action but instead pictures of varying intensity that allow for multiple impressions and interpretations.
https://nosovereignauthor.be/
Time at work, this time which rushes, always too short, it is this which Csilla Klenyànszki addresses in her performative and photographic games. Of course, this artistic approach is accepted, being defined by a sum of constraints which might be resumed here as follows: the daily siesta of a child, the domestic setting imposed by this siesta, or thirty minutes for creation. Pillars of Home is a series of variations upon a single theme that is as dizzying as it is absurd. In thirty minutes flat, within this confined frame and with no more than plants, plastic beakers, a vacuum cleaner, table, chair, teapot and other utensils (with the inclusion of her own body, an object which she does not hesitate to contribute and contort), this artist provides ninety-six answers held in a fragile balance between the floor and the ceiling of her apartment. We are amused by one, stunned by another. Yet none of them impose a superiority as, more than just the form, it is the process and the accumulation of experiences which the photographer wishes to highlight: not the beauty of the sculpture nor the skill of its assembly, but the action of an artist who wishes to oppose time with a mischievous and vital fantasy. Ephemeral, yes, but certainly not trivial.
Olga Cafiero (*1982) is a Swiss and Italian photographer based in Lausanne. After a BA in photography and an MA in art direction at ECAL, she studied art history at University of Lausanne. Her work has been shown in exhibitions in Switzerland and internationally since 2008, and regularly published in international magazines since 2009. Her awards include Foam Talent (selection), Hyères Festival de Mode et de Photographie, BFF-Förderpreis (laureate), a Swiss Design Award (laureate) and L’enquête photographique Neuchâteloise (laureate).
Ignacio Navas (b. 1989, Tudela, Spain) is a photographer based in Madrid. After studying a Fine Arts Degree at Complutense University of Madrid he specialized in photography at Blank Paper School. Along with other photographers, he currently runs El Local, an independent space for photography in Madrid. In his work, Navas presents us daily life narratives that dig into the complexities and contradictions of western society. His approach researches how political, economic and social structures are made present and shape our everyday affaires. In his latest projects he explores new interactive paths for the medium by creating photography-based interactive experiences and non-fictional videogames.
Website: http://www.ignacionavas.com
Xenia Petrovska (b. 1988) is a photographer based in Kyiv, Ukraine. She studied at the MYPH art school and at the Kyiv School of Photography. Xenia's works are rooted in the mysterious and even slightly surreal atmospheres created by light and color. She took part in numerous group exhibitions in Ukraine in Europe. Xenia was selected as a Fresh Eyes European talent 2021 by GUP Magazine. Member of Ukrainian Women Photographers Organisation.