INsideOUTside

INsideOUTside is a series of self-portraits shot entirely during the COVID-19 lockdown. All the photographs are created in the same room using solely the daylight coming from the window. When the pandemic has begun and after the first shock was over, I suddenly realized that I now have the time and the space for self-reflection. I felt overwhelmed and, at the same time, greatly inspired by this new experience. The majority of my previous photographic projects dealt with other people, families, relationships, and cultures, and now it seemed finally like the right time to turn my gaze inwards. While processing the current worldwide situation, I realized that most of us have forgotten what it means to be connected to Nature. We are constantly destroying our planet, and perhaps the current crisis is a reminder to all of us from the universe that we must stop and change our attitude, and a reminder that we are, in fact, one single organism with this planet. Having lived all my life in big cities, I completely lost touch with Nature, and my relationship with it became rather imaginary. Through this series, I am striving to rebuild this connection by bringing elements from the Outside – the Nature into the Inside – my inner space. This project for me is a way of processing the current situation from a rather positive perspective, as I see this lockdown period as an opportunity for transformation and transition into a new and better life. I am portraying the internal states of mind that I am going through during this time. Even though this series is based largely on the daily psychological experiences, it also reflects my dreams and my childhood memories. The work process in the “InsideOUTside” is very intuitive and almost meditative. Every day brings another inspiration: sometimes coming from a daily walk in a park, or a dream that I saw the night before. At times, it comes simply from the play between the light and the shadow in the room where I photograph. Being an immigrant all my life, and having lived in many different countries, I have often been struggling with language barriers. Therefore, in this series, as well as in all my artistic projects, I am constructing a visual language that is based on the universal symbols drawn from various cultures, myths, and religions. The symbols involved in the INsideOUTside series are dealing with basic themes such as fertility, longevity, the border between life and death, rebirth, and the four elements of nature (earth, air, fire and water). Each picture is a metaphoric representation of my personal internal-external space. However, my aim is to allow my photographs to be open for interpretation, so that any person, regardless of his/her cultural or religious background, could connect to my images on a subconscious level and discover their own meaning.