New BEGINNING, exhibition, 2023
Exhibited photographs, dimension 1,6m x 2,25m, with author Tina Ramujkić
New beginning is a photographic project with a series of shiny portraits that comes to our space at the beginning of spring and at the end of the global pandemic. Tired of prohibition, distance, and limitations, we dreamed of freshness and more beautiful dimensions of life.
The photographer chose a single portrait object for her artistic interpretation. The focus is on Lohi, a Nigerian woman who came to Slovenia five years ago to look for new ways of life. Here and now, in our eyes, it may represent a difference, but it is precisely desire for freshness that has come true for her in our environment.
The series of five portraits depicts the desire for freedom, escape from everyday life and offers artistic pleasure in the concept of aesthetic and visual integrity. It brings out issues of freedom, justice, self-realization and, ultimately, the irresistible force of passion that guides each individual. Like Lohi, the author was looking for a new, different opportunity for her expression.
"I found the inspiration for New Beginning in African culture, in the vivacity of the spirit there, in the freshness of the colorful arts, and complete opposite of what we are facing in the Central European area today. Through my lens, I wanted to see someone who would bring difference, liberation, awaken a passion for life and thus a new beginning to my photographic canvas. Lohi and I, each on our own side, managed to find this bright difference." Thus, the author, who approaches the portrait as an observer, but creates a deeper bond with the photograph.
The author chose large-format photographs as the medium of the exhibition, and dramatically emphasized the light in the studio for the portraits to touch the viewer even more.