Overdressed 2020
Photo serires, 19 pictures
«Guys, nobody wears so much plastic in 2020»
These are vegetables and fruits I found in supermarkets and tried to capture in the style of classical still life or maybe a little bit of a fashion shoot.
I was wondering just how strange and, at the same time, typical for our culture they look. And I tried to show that in my series.
The idea came to me when I went to the store to choose some interesting vegetables for still-life studies. Everything I saw was too clean and too carefully packaged.
Most of fruit and vegetables have their own natural packaging — the peel — and the plastic is added only to create the illusion of safety, purity and security in our mind.
Body of Protest 2019
Staged photo. From a series wich combines photos taken at actual protests that happened in Russia in 2019 with staged photographs reflecting on the physical experience of taking part in these events.
We take part in a protest because of our political beliefs, to stand up for our rights, but it is our body that has to bear the consequences. We may feel excitement, pride or anger, but there are more physical things – cold, fatigue, pain. The body might be more afraid than the mind.
It turns out that the only way we can answer to violence is by putting our body against it. We go to a protest knowing that for the body it can have any consequences, but we still go and we discover power in both the vulnerability and the fearlessness.
Taking part in a protest becomes the key to realising your own self-worth and responsibility for the consequences. Being ready to pay for your own opinions with your body is one of the ways of finding dignity.
Note: The text above was written by the Artist. No modification was made by COCA.
Polina Soyref
Estonia
Born 23.06.1993, Russia
St.Petersburg/Tallinn
Graduated with a BA in philosophy and currently am writing a PhD thesis about photography and the body experience. Photographs exhibited at 5th Biennale of Contemporary Photography in St.Petersburg, 2019.