Jana Bulochova
Many people want to express themselves to the outside world in the moment and I am no exception. For me, photography allows the world to be seen from different points of view and as a medium it joyfully embraces curiosity and strangeness, it celebrates the idiosyncrasies of people. At the same time, the centrality of photographic media to the manipulation of public opinion and misinformation can be seen in services set up online to show how this has been a feature of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
My aim is to make projects that resonate on a personal level by firstly reflecting on my own standpoint and then seeking to align myself with others’ perspectives. My photographs are lyrical and use photography to externalise a sense of self and not about those depicted. I enjoy improvisation but prefer to be systematic and prepared. Changing circumstances require skills in curating and creative directing to strategically respond to obstacles.
I admire the resilience and engagement of communities of photographers like those around the Photo Days festival in Odesa.
In the Deep End
This project focuses on the relationship between feelings and photography. Feelings, after all, are chaotic and negative feelings are often suppressed in a toxically positive community. However, they ultimately have to manifest somewhere. Through the creation of imaginary photographic nightmares, I am exploring how people may be affected by the suppression of their own negative emotions. Nightmares occur for many reasons, not least from an over-sensitivity to images of horror, or even from over-eating at night, but they also, of course, have psychological reasons related to difficult, repressed memories. Drawing on my own experience of repeated nightmares, I am discovering how this phenomenon and its affects might be visualised.
In the Deep End appeared as an installation at The Library Project for the month of May 2022.
Body Aesthetic
It is necessary to treat your own body as an art-object and aestheticise the flaws.