Woman Crush Wednesday: Kristina Varaksina
Self-portrait (Shaved Head). This self-portrait aims to inspire and empower women in all kinds of life circumstances. It’s a liberation of society’s stereotypes and of a burden we often place on ourselves. © Kristina Varaksina
By Nemo Chen
Can you tell us a bit about your project "The Essense Of Beauty" ?
The Essence of Beauty is a project I’ve been working on for over two years now. My goal has been to find and show beauty in ‘ordinary’ women, non-binary and female identifying individuals. My subjects range from such unconventional beauty as people with skin conditions and physical disabilities to perfectly ‘normal’ women, whose stories I find inspiring and worthy of sharing. The aim of the project is to show how beauty is not defined by any convention, it rather comes from within. Each subject shares their definition of beauty and I share the story of their life in a caption next to each their photo, and when then viewer can sees these incredibly strong and resilient individuals they will hopefully change the way they see themselves and the way they see beauty in others.
A lot of your work is related to the feminine subjects. Can you tell us how you chose your topics? What inspires you?
As a female photographer I find it easier to explore stories of other women. From my younger years I’ve seen women who got a worse deal in life than the men of similar backgrounds, or so it seemed. I’ve talked to a lot of my female subjects and they always feel so much pressure to look a certain way, and they feel incredibly bad when they can’t. And there are societal pressures of finding a partner, becoming a mother, being a perfect mother and wife, and so on. These are real life stories that inspire me. As an artist I have an opportunity to bring attention to certain issues, and I feel it’s my responsibility to talk about things like inequality, or unrealistic standards, or psychological problems, so that people can see that they are not alone in this battle.
Chezza © Kristina Varaksina
Jasroop © Kristina Varaksina
You were born in Russia, got your master's degree in the United States, and now you work in London. How did the experience of living in a different country influence your work?
Russia has its own traditions, cultural values and mentality that sparks certain ideas. And I can say the same thing about the US, the UK, or any other country. I respond to the cultural, political, economic environment I’m in, to people around me, that’s how my ideas are born. But the ideas are still mine, the way that I see things is through the prism of my own life experiences, so someone else currently living in the US or the UK would have a completely different response. My childhood and teenage years happened to be in the 90’s Russia, when female beauty became a commodity. Basically, the country went from Soviet gender equality to a trade style relationship between a man and a woman - I trade my youth and beauty for your money and comfortable life. I haven’t seen much of that in America, but there are other gender relationships issues stemming from the early-mid 20th century when most women were housewives. This is one of the subjects I pay attention to because of the way I was formed in my teenage years. I find the experience of living in different countries, or changing environments very important for an artist - you get an outsider’s perspective, and new circumstances make you change your view on things and inspire you to talk about it in your work.
Joannè © Kristina Varaksina
In your series" Self-Reflection", you explore “the vulnerabilities, insecurities and self-searching of a woman and artist.” What do you think is the most difficult thing about being a female artist?
I think it’s great to be a female artist and offer a female perspective on things. But there are still challenges, like commissioners taking you less seriously and offering a smaller fee, compared to male photographers. Sometimes even models or crew take you less seriously, because you don’t have a big presence, you are more gentle and soft spoken than an average male photographer. But that’s a global issue of girls being raised less confident than boys, and hopefully this is changing as we speak.
Cat Grace © Kristina Varaksina
Describe your creative process in one word.
Thorough.
If you could teach a one-hour class on anything, what would it be?
It would be on the importance of understanding who you are as a person and creating work that is a reflection of that.
What was the last book you read or film you saw that inspired you?
‘Good morning’ (1959) by Yasujiro Ozu. It’s a very simple story about family life. But the director created such a beautiful and nostalgic (to me as a grownup) world, in a very minimalistic but detail-obsessed way. I enjoy stories about real people, things that I may recognise from my own life, but told through someone’s artistic lens, with their own palette and flavour, so you get to know the author as well as you get to know the characters.
What is the most played song in your music library?
It changes every month or so, currently it’s “Back in the crowd” by Tom Waits.
How do you take your coffee?
I love the smell of coffee in the morning but I can’t take caffeine. So I prefer herbal teas of all kinds (so Russian of me!).
To view more of Kristina Varaksina’s work, visit her website.
