Photo Projects
26 May 2022
/ WATER – PROOF /
A controversial scientific theory of the 90s claims that water forever retains molecular traces of the objects it came into contact with. Even before, in mythology and in most religions, water appeared frequently as a symbol of clarity and purity. Moving water is often a symbol of transition.
In her new series ‘Water-Proof ‘ water was finally able to enter directly into her work and the artist once again managed to blur our visual and intellectual temporal perceptions. As we ponder over these pieces of art, we do not know if water has invaded the miniature screens, if it has permeated the images and within them, or if it is an integral part of these images.
There is something in Natalya’s art that transcends time; photographs of objects long forgotten; they could be strange relics from ancient times having just emerged from the dark underwater. Or did she choose the water to play its role in purifying distorted images?
Is this the permanent mark from the objects it touched?
Or it is possible that water serves as a physical metaphor of our subjectivity.
From certain angle the actual picture appears saturated while its shadow becomes clear as a confirmation of Gustav Jung shadow archetype theory: what is dark in us becomes clear in our shadow and vice versa.
‘The world appears in front of each of us the way our mind sees it, and it is built on personal, all the time changing associations, on the shift of the angle and depth of view. Natalia’s Lyakh / Water-Proof / illustrates this complex properties of our perception and understanding of the world – always different and dynamic.’ T.Chernigovskaya
Digital print, plexisglass, sculptured glue, ed 1/1,Size:8/2,5cm
_______________________________ / PAREBRISE // WINDSCREEN /
Digital prints on canvas. Old photographs of the XIX and early XX century, inserted in the rearview mirror, emphasize the existence of future (image in our windscreen), past (old photo – reflection in retroviseur) and present (retroviseur itself) simultaneously in aesthetic and metaphoric space of the windscreen.
‘ What we see clearly in front of us! No, this is not what lies ahead, but what is behind, what seems to be looking at us from the behind, through the rearview mirror. We are captured by gaze from the past [passé]. Gaze from another world. This fixed glance is a measure of human motion. This is intercepted glance, keeping for us energy archive of living and dead.’ V.Mazin
Digital print, canvas, ed 1/2 Size : 120/70cm
____________________
/ HUBLOT / PORTHOLE /
It is a reconstruction of aircraft or submarine window or just usual glass behind which images are inlaid. Spectators are confronted with a visual experience where jostle, without interruption, mental associations leading to question the existence of any objective reality. These “Portholes” may also be a lens, an entrance to a different world: air, aquatic, microscopic or macroscopic.
Digital Print, Plexyglass
/AERO-PORTHOLES / Size 1: 29/20/5 cm,
/AQUA-PORTHOLES / Size 2: 25/25/5 cm,
/GLASS-PORTHOLES / Size 3: 9/11/6 cm
