ARTIST STATEMENT
How close are our inner and outer worlds? How whole are we? Do we all have harmony inside? Who or what is locked inside our souls? Where is the line between the internals and externals? Under my exploration, I try to answer these questions and many other questions for myself and express these ideas in my work.
The human personality is a very complex mechanism, and its study makes it possible to better understand ourselves and our problems. Each of us has our own inner side or our soul, and it knows everything about us. My idea is about how different or similar the external and internal worlds are, and how all of this is combined in us. I want to show how they interact and what it would look like if we could see it. In an attempt to combine psychology and art in my research, I want to demonstrate the inner struggles, feelings, emotions, despair, hope, conflicts, differences, and reconciliation inside us.
I work in collage style, both real and created using Photoshop. These methods help me to most accurately express what I want to show. Different lights, shadows, and long exposure enable me to create an unclear effect of blurring and ambiguity. Also, I often use different symbols such as mirrors, ropes, mirror fragments, and so on. All these symbolic, dramatic, allegorical matrices give me the opportunity to work with ambiguity, ambivalence, and uncertainty in my research.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
My name is Natasha Kravchenko. I am a photographer and visual artist. Currently, I am working as an instructor at The Department of Visual & Performing Arts at PennWest University. I am teaching photography courses for students with different levels, photography skills, and experience. I have a Master’s degree in Fine Arts. I graduated from Penn State in May 2023. I also have a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Voronezh State University in Russia.
I am working in the genre of fine art photography. I always photograph what I am interested in, what reflects my state at the moment, and what I am not indifferent to. At present, my research centers on exploring the intricate dynamics between individuals’ inner and outer worlds, delving into the psychological nuances of these connections, and experimenting with various methods of artistic expression. Focusing on the interaction of the external and internal allows people to think about their souls. And I think that the analysis of the inner and outer worlds of people’s personalities gives different options for self-development and allows them to become harmoniously developed and integral personalities.
© Natasha Kravchenko