Triggered: Gulnara Samoilova
© Gulnara Samoilova
I was on one of my street photography walks on Times Square in New York City when I spotted [a] mother and daughter. The mother would ask her daughter to take various photos of herself, check... the photos, then repeat [that] over and over. I could see that the daughter wasn’t [as] excited as her mother and was very upset, but silent. She was so patient, taking the same photos of her mother over and over.
Then I came across this magnificent mirror installation titled "The Beginning of the End." The sculpture, created by Cuban artist Rachel Valdés Camejo, comprised three giant mirrors.
And then I see the same girl, still silently crying with her cheek pressed to the mirror, and her mother, still taking photos—now selfies—right behind her. I began taking photos of the scene. I waited for the billboards with faces to appear in the background and it looked as if the girl waited for them as well. I was fascinated by the busy-ness of the scene—[the] installation attracted many people. It was packed, yet the girl created this dreamy stillness within [the] chaos.
To view more of Gulnara Samoilova’ work, visit her website or Instagram
