Each of us have a space, which we think as personal. In this case I am referring to the place where we feel safe and comfortable. The feature of this place is that being there, we free ourselves from the behavior imposed by society. We can’t be truly ourself in the presence of another both in his physical existence, and with our online and mobile accessibility.
The willingness to start this project emerged from the experience of the loss of personal space.
Sooner or later, someone appeared next to me. It could be friends staying after a party or a girlfriend moved in to live with me, it could be with varying degrees of friendliness . Did not matter how close we were, each of them wasn’t me. The other person and his presence took away a part of my personal space and transformed it into social space.
In search of ways to express this experience I started making self-portraits in the IKEA store. The internal organization of the store involves mixing the personal and the social zones. It’s ready-made interiors impose itself as an area of personal space, try to offer comfort as in a cozy home. At the same time, this store is a social space, which implies certain rules of conduct.
I chose the certain interior, lined up the shot and shot the composition. People don’t like to be photographed without permission. Since the camera was mounted on a tripod on the side of the stage it wasn’t noticeable. So in most cases I was able to take several shots before I was noticed. It was more difficult with the scenes in which I was partially undressed. Once buyers realised that they were photographed, they tried to escape. Surprisingly, no one hit me and the guards brought me out of the store at the end of the third shooting.
Photography characterized by performance. The author is shown via his shooting style, the choice of the stage and the interaction with the participants. I am interested in turning the camera on myself, in searching for answers to the questions that worry me, in testing my limits.
Vik Laschenov
Biography:
From the beginning I was interested in performative side of the photography. As a photographer I change the reality by interaction with a participants. I try to use an ordinary space and a trivial situations and add to it performative actions. Through it I make the emphasis on important issues of mine.
More often, these are neutral form photographs, in which hasn’t got enough visual drama or exaggeration. The sense and the experience for spectators are produced by my personal story layed in background.
Now, I’m a student of the Rodchenko Moscow School of Photography and Media Arts/ projective photography and studying at the FotoDepartament Foundation Educational program “Photography as a research”.
