Ira Lupu: On Dreams and Screens
© Ira Lupu
In her new multimedia project, “On Dreams and Screens,” artist Ira Lupu and her “heroines” as she calls them, challenge the world’s perceptions of webcam models by inviting viewers into their world. Working with six webcam models from Ukraine, where sex work is illegal but largely overlooked, the project shines a light on how their jobs affect their lives when the camera is turned off. Some of these women have turned to webcam modeling for the sake of income while others utilize it to explore their sexuality. In neither case are they looking to be pitied or ridiculed by those outsides of the industry. In this series of photographs that capture the quiet moments in between streamings, Lupu is looking to tell their more intimate and multi-dimensional stories.
© Ira Lupu
Lupu was first introduced to the world of “camming” - performing certain activities for clients in front of a web camera - through Marina, a webcam model, who commissioned Lupu to take her photographs. From here Lupu connected with more women open to telling their stories to the extent where the project has expanded beyond Ukraine and into the United States.
In her photographs, viewers can experience the emotional weight and occasional freedom that comes from these women’s worlds. The series captures the models in both places from their childhood and the apartments in which they work, highlighting their struggle to exist simultaneously in two different worlds.
© Ira Lupu
In one of the photos from the project, Marina sits on the floor of her living room. She is looking upwards at the circle light that she uses for work, her head and shoulders bathed in blue light, while the rest of her living room glows blue and pink. There are flowers scattered across her couch. Marina is dressed in a black, spaghetti-strapped crop top, a mini skirt, and a pair of high-heels. The mood is calm, and Marina is deep in thought, contemplating.
© Ira Lupu
According to Lupu, “for most girls from my project, their home is also their workplace. By its nature, the camming job requires a lot of time alone in the room, staring at yourself while performing. So, the girls were oftentimes describing their home like a temple of self-contemplation and self-reflection, almost a gate that led to a slightly altered state of consciousness.”
The models’ living spaces, combining their work and personal environments in one, become what Lupu describes as their “little universes,” a concept that people can relate to in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
© Ira Lupu
In the photographs outside of their apartments or when the camera is off, the models are observant of their surroundings. They take a step back from their fantasy world to reconnect with the real one. In these photos, Lupu captures her heroines’ desires to dissolve into their surroundings and escape for however long they can.
When speaking of working with her subjects in nature, like the Kuyalnik Estuary, the artist notes that “being in a natural setting makes a perfect way to disconnect from the fantasy machine a little. To get out of their head and reconnect with their body, become more awaken and real.”
© Ira Lupu
In “On Dream and Screens” there is a story to be told. As the camming business grows, especially in the midst of the pandemic, sex work still carries a great deal of stigma. Ira Lupu and the heroines of her project challenge these prejudices against the work that they do. For them, the world of webcam modeling is about much more than mere sex - it is about connection and emotion.
To view more works on Ira Lupu, visit her website and Instagram.
