Biography
I am Olga Tarabukina, an art photographer, born in 1983 in Ukraine. Initially, I studied philology at the University of Kyiv and, ten years later, pursued media design at the Babelsberg Media School in Potsdam.
My artistic journey began with literature in my hometown, where I wrote novellas addressing existential themes.
In 2005, I moved to Potsdam to explore new avenues in visual storytelling. My short film was nominated as a finalist at the 2013 IKZ Short Film Festival Potsdam with the theme "Extremism No Thanks." As a communication designer, I have worked for many years in the Berlin fashion industry.
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Increasingly, I find my artistic expression in photography, seeking an aesthetic that captures emotional life in its vulnerable sensuality.
At the end of 2023, I initiated my project "Self-Portrait of Fear", an ongoing photographic experiment that explores and visually expresses inner fear through the naked exposure of the self.
EXHIBITIONS
2024. Freedom Island. Berlin, Germany.
2024. Visitors of liminal Berlin. Berlin, Germany.
2024. Fotom. Potsdam, Germany.
2020. Fotosushka. ArtCityPeople. Berlin, Germany.
2019. OstPost. Berlin, Germany.
ARTIST STATEMENT
In my artistic work, I set themes for myself that are currently relevant to me and that I can tackle because I am ready to engage in the special play of getting to know myself. This means that my images are always mirrors of my inner life, which I approach in small steps. In doing so, I feel connected to Pictorialism, which from the very beginning established photography as a fully-fledged artistic means of expression.
But it is also the many impressions from the outside that evoke emotions, leading me to touch upon one theme or another. Thus, photography opened up the artistic possibility for me in a real-surreal as well as suprematist way to capture the transient in the moment and make it available for the future. Old masters like Rembrandt and Bellini inspire me to create a painterly aesthetic in my images.
I use photography as a medium of belief and experiment not least with reality to create imaginary spaces and, like David Lynch in his filmography, to visualize certain emotional states. My images, therefore, bear witness to experiences in which I come into contact with myself, searching for the hidden sides of my and every personality.