1. Tell us about your image:
We regularly use taxidermy of insects in order to define, categorize and understand them.
With all this great variety of insects people are still able to decide whether their looking at a butterfly or dragonfly using common characteristics they know.
I photographed different insects using a 4X5 camera in a studio. Using Photoshop I've manipulated the images, combined insects together, duplicated parts and created new insects out of my own imagination.
My new insects have nothing related with practicality, they wouldn't be able to fly if existed. They are beautiful yet not a part of the real world.
I created them with parts of different insects while trying to imitate the most basic distinguishable characteristics of common insects.
The results are meaningless shapes made out of insects parts that we can call or define as a Beetle or `butterfly by mistake. I created new species.
2. What type of Fantasy were you trying to express or capture in this photograph?
I have a "Love Hate" relationship with insects. on the one hand I am very fascinated by them and always want to photograph then but on the other hand I can't be near them.
My project allowed me to crete beautiful insects that lose that sense of discuss. I left them with only the features that I liked and could enjoy their esthetics. I was able to be near them for a long time period with the barrier of the computer screen.
3. Why Photography? What about it inspires and excites you?
When I was younger I wanted to be a writer and used to always write short stories. I always felt that I couldn't tell the story right. When I received my first pocket camera in high school, I started taking pictures of my friends, and my house and fell in love with the camera and its ability to tell the story. Photography for me is a second way of looking at the world and dealing with the everyday issues I go through. It allows me to process my feeling and my past in a visual and beautiful way. Photography is a big part of how I look inside myself and understand me and my family.
4. Our upcoming issue is centered around the theme of 'Temptation'. What's your biggest temptation?
Would it be a cliché to say photography?
Musée Magazine No. 8 vol.2: Fantasy