honorable mention
Alice Zilberberg canada
title
Oasis
The environments in these images were chosen mindfully and embody multiple meanings. When traveling through the desert, I became aware of the many optical illusions it can present to the naked eye. The desert background became the symbol of the seemingly perfect qualities a lover holds when first falling in love. The backgrounds surrounding the lovers are beautiful, yet dark, and are sometimes de-saturated. This alludes to how magical things look from a distance when love is first at hand, overlooking flaws in a burgeoning relationship. The otherworldly aesthetic of the landscapes propose the chosen isolation from the rest the world that lovers feel when together. There's a quiet here; all the noise of the outside world is silenced when new lovers are unified. Their affection is simultaneously soft and clenching, emulating lightness and darkness coexisting in the series.
Zilberberg merges traditional photography and computer illustration, creating images that bridge the platforms of photography and painting. Her work marries reality and fantasy, echoing elements of surrealism and baroque art. Her work has explored the intersection between femininity and the essence of female power linked to the natural environment. Examining traditional female iconography, the work strips these narratives of outdated notions of women as a weaker sex and emphasizing female empowerment. Her latest landscape series explores themes of identity, displacement and belonging by fusing images of the two places she’s called home.
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entry description
This project emerged from the realities of struggling with an end of a relationship that was salted dry through infidelity. After a complicated breakup, I found myself on a trip in the desert with a couple that was newly in love. Out of their affection, the arid desert, and my own desolate struggle, I found inspiration to create “Oasis”, a body of work that speaks about the lightness and darkness of love.The environments in these images were chosen mindfully and embody multiple meanings. When traveling through the desert, I became aware of the many optical illusions it can present to the naked eye. The desert background became the symbol of the seemingly perfect qualities a lover holds when first falling in love. The backgrounds surrounding the lovers are beautiful, yet dark, and are sometimes de-saturated. This alludes to how magical things look from a distance when love is first at hand, overlooking flaws in a burgeoning relationship. The otherworldly aesthetic of the landscapes propose the chosen isolation from the rest the world that lovers feel when together. There's a quiet here; all the noise of the outside world is silenced when new lovers are unified. Their affection is simultaneously soft and clenching, emulating lightness and darkness coexisting in the series.
about the photographer
Alice Zilberberg is an award-winning photographer and visual artist, born in Estonia, raised in Israel, and now based in Toronto, Canada. A graduate of Ryerson University’s Photography program, she has exhibited in galleries across Canada, the US and Japan, and published internationally, most recently in PHOTO+ Magazine in Seoul, Korea. Her work has sold in auction houses and charity auctions, including Waddingtons, Snap! and ORT.Zilberberg merges traditional photography and computer illustration, creating images that bridge the platforms of photography and painting. Her work marries reality and fantasy, echoing elements of surrealism and baroque art. Her work has explored the intersection between femininity and the essence of female power linked to the natural environment. Examining traditional female iconography, the work strips these narratives of outdated notions of women as a weaker sex and emphasizing female empowerment. Her latest landscape series explores themes of identity, displacement and belonging by fusing images of the two places she’s called home.
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