honorable mention
Felicia Simion romania
title
Through a land of deserts and pits
"Through a land of deserts and pits" constitutes a series of self-portraits developed while traveling from the Atacama Desert in Chile to Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, in the summer of 2018. The project follows a personal journey – both physical and spiritual – and lies at the border between photography and performance.
By immersing myself into various environments – from sand, grass, stone, salt and water, to llareta plants dating from thousands of years ago – I was able to perceive the landscapes in a sensory way and also to become more conscious about the feelings and inner shifts which occurred during these experiences. Choosing to wear the full-body costumes, I intentionally deprived myself of the sense of sight, which allowed me to gain a closer interaction with the textures, smells, sounds and even the taste of the natural elements I encountered (such as the salt in Uyuni).
The whole experience was accompanied by a gradual process of acclimatization, due to the high altitudes which varied from 2500 to 4500 meters, thus inducing symptoms like shortness of breath, headache, increased heart rate or fatigue. Intrinsically, I was withstanding a similar process, which translated itself through paradoxal feelings of fear and awe, of being remote and rootless, yet belonging, all at the same time.
"For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited." (Jeremiah 17:6, King James Bible)
My artistic roots can be found during my childhood and adolescence, when I engaged with painting, music and writing. At the age of 13 I came across the works of Magnum photographers, which later became a representative moment in my evolution as a visual artist.
As a photographer, I tend to pursue a fine art approach to each genre I focus on at a specific time. I situate my work somewhere near the thin line between reality and fiction, easily floating from one side to another. In the last couple of years, I have withdrawn inspiration from Cultural Anthropology, exploring themes such as family, identity, dynamics of tradition or body.
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entry description
"…through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt…"(Jeremiah 2:6, King James Bible)"Through a land of deserts and pits" constitutes a series of self-portraits developed while traveling from the Atacama Desert in Chile to Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, in the summer of 2018. The project follows a personal journey – both physical and spiritual – and lies at the border between photography and performance.
By immersing myself into various environments – from sand, grass, stone, salt and water, to llareta plants dating from thousands of years ago – I was able to perceive the landscapes in a sensory way and also to become more conscious about the feelings and inner shifts which occurred during these experiences. Choosing to wear the full-body costumes, I intentionally deprived myself of the sense of sight, which allowed me to gain a closer interaction with the textures, smells, sounds and even the taste of the natural elements I encountered (such as the salt in Uyuni).
The whole experience was accompanied by a gradual process of acclimatization, due to the high altitudes which varied from 2500 to 4500 meters, thus inducing symptoms like shortness of breath, headache, increased heart rate or fatigue. Intrinsically, I was withstanding a similar process, which translated itself through paradoxal feelings of fear and awe, of being remote and rootless, yet belonging, all at the same time.
"For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited." (Jeremiah 17:6, King James Bible)
about the photographer
I am a 26-year-old visual artist and freelance photographer interested in Visual Anthropology and Storytelling, constantly looking for new ways to nurture self-expression. In 2016 I graduated from the Bucharest National University of Arts, Photography and Video department, and in 2018 I successfully completed an MA degree in Ethnology, Cultural Anthropology and Folklore at the University of Bucharest.My artistic roots can be found during my childhood and adolescence, when I engaged with painting, music and writing. At the age of 13 I came across the works of Magnum photographers, which later became a representative moment in my evolution as a visual artist.
As a photographer, I tend to pursue a fine art approach to each genre I focus on at a specific time. I situate my work somewhere near the thin line between reality and fiction, easily floating from one side to another. In the last couple of years, I have withdrawn inspiration from Cultural Anthropology, exploring themes such as family, identity, dynamics of tradition or body.
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