Alena Solomonova: Self Infull – LENSCRATCH

©Alena Solomonova, Discrete State 2, Self-portrait. The layers expose identification as a composite of reminiscence, expertise, social expectations and self-reflection. The constructed masks reads concurrently as safety and a seek for type.

I used to be scrolling via instagram and stopped instantly once I noticed this picture by Alena Solomonova, which then despatched me to her web site and the great expertise of  discovering a particular visible voice. The work is layered and compelling and it was thrilling to comb via her many approaches to photographing self. These images inhabit the terrain between development and deconstruction. Faces are fragmented, obscured, and reassembled, reminding us that identification is formed by accrued experiences. Rather than presenting a unified self, the works acknowledge multiplicity, revealing identification as a shifting mixture of fragments, absences, and unresolved tensions.

Self-portraiture has lengthy been related to the promise that a picture may supply perception into the particular person earlier than the digital camera. Yet this physique of labor begins with the alternative premise: that the self can by no means be absolutely recognized, mounted, or represented. Through acts of collage, rupture, layering, and concealment, the Solomonova dismantles the standard portrait, remodeling it right into a website of inquiry.

Each picture capabilities as an experiment in self-examination. As the artist turns inward, the portrait turns into each a mirror and a query, exposing acquainted points of the self whereas uncovering others that really feel unexpectedly international. The result’s a compelling visible investigation into identification’s fractured nature, inviting viewers to think about not solely how we see ourselves, however how a lot of ourselves inevitably stays past view.

A dialog with the artist follows.

©Alena Solomonova, Discrete State. The self-portrait is lower aside and reassembled from separate fragments, as a visible try to seize the second when identification splits into layers. The purple line and tape mark fragile factors the place the picture can disintegrate.

In my ongoing exploration of identification via self-portraits, I make use of varied types of bodily intervention – collages, ruptures, overlapping objects – making an attempt concurrently to reconstruct the self and dissolve it into its parts. Each work is an experiment on the self, and as such, it can’t be closing. Identity manifests via fragments, via absences, via the residue left behind by deconstruction. My apply is grounded within the conviction {that a} portrait is rarely, and may by no means be, a real illustration of the self.

Identity shouldn’t be a steady construction. Layers of expertise, schooling, parental attitudes, and social expectations accumulate, intersect, and stay perpetually open to revision. My apply turns into a type of analysis right into a self that’s, in some basic sense, at all times out of attain. Each time I look inward, I encounter one of many seen layers and it’s at all times me, but at all times an unfamiliar model of me. What unsettles me additional is that making an attempt to confront the components of myself I resist leads solely to the popularity that they’re nonetheless constitutive of who I’m. The exclusion of these components would symbolize the self incomplete, like the development lacking the important half. – Alena Solomonova

©Alena Solomonova, Discrete State 3, Red threads obscure the facial options, turning them right into a tangled construction. The threads symbolize emotional complexity, inside noise, and the necessity to maintain oneself collectively regardless of inevitable disarray.

Alena Solomonova is a Slovenia-based visible artist working throughout images, self-portraiture, and combined media. Currently pursuing her research on the Higher School of Photography in Slovenia, her apply examines identification as a fluid and unstable assemble formed by reminiscence, time, and lived expertise.

Working primarily with self-portraiture, Solomonova bodily intervenes in printed images via collage, tearing, threads, glass, and natural supplies, remodeling the portrait into an object that carries traces of vulnerability, fragmentation, and reconstruction. Her work navigates the strain between visibility and concealment, typically addressing themes of getting older, femininity, and the instability of the self.

Her work has been acknowledged internationally via awards and exhibitions together with the Paris Photo Prize, ND Awards 2025, Experimental Hub Barcelona, and the LensCulture Art Photography Awards 2026.

Instagram: @solomalena

©Alena Solomonova, Beside Myself, A gaze turned each inward and again towards the self. The work displays an try at introspection, the place the observing “I” stays barely indifferent from the self it examines.

Tell us about your rising up and what introduced you to images?

I used to be an unusual little one born within the Soviet Union, with none explicit connection to artwork or
creativity. My rising up occurred throughout a troublesome interval of nice change, when the
Soviet Union collapsed, many individuals misplaced their jobs, and households, together with mine, struggled
financially. At that point, creativity was not seen as one thing that would enable you survive.
Most younger individuals selected sensible professions that would present stability – legal professionals,
economists, individuals in finance.

So I studied economics after which labored for a few years as a monetary specialist in numerous
firms. I didn’t take into consideration creativity in any respect. In reality, I at all times believed that artwork and I
had been incompatible.

But over time I started to really feel that what I used to be doing didn’t carry me pleasure. I wished to search out
one thing that may give me which means, not simply revenue. I studied psychology, considering that
maybe this was the path I wished to comply with. Around the identical time, I met my accomplice,
and we moved to Slovenia. I deliberate to proceed my research there, however then the pandemic
started, and every thing was postponed.

While everybody was locked inside their residences, I made a decision to take a web-based course in
cellular images, extra as a type of leisure than as a critical choice. And fairly
unexpectedly, I found a complete world. I discovered one thing during which I felt very pure, as
if it had at all times been part of me. Since then, I’ve taken many alternative programs and
studied in a number of images faculties. Most just lately, I accomplished my research on the
Higher School of Photography.

©Alena Solomonova, Beside Myself, The face seems fragmented and barely displaced, as if components of the self have shifted out of alignment. The portrait displays a second of being divided between presence and distance.

How did you come to self-portraiture?

At first, I photographed nature. Then I photographed something that attracted me, and at
some level I grew to become particularly taken with portraiture. I photographed completely different individuals,
however over time I noticed that I couldn’t at all times apply my very own inventive impulses and concepts
to others. Their relationship to my experiments could be very completely different from mine.
Gradually, I got here to the understanding that it was simpler for me to work with my very own face
and my very own identification. With myself, I can do something. I see myself as a sort of clean web page, a
materials I can work with freely. I’m not afraid to experiment with myself, to alter the
picture, to destroy it, to attempt completely different approaches. And, after all, I’m at all times accessible for
the work.

©Alena Solomonova, Beside Myself, Beside myself 3 What was stored inside for too lengthy begins to power its means out.

You write {that a} portrait can by no means be a real illustration of the self. What, then, can a portrait reveal?

In my view, a portrait can at all times reveal part of the self, however by no means the entire self. For me,
the self is an unstable construction. It is consistently altering – below the affect of time,
occasions, stress, the exterior atmosphere, relationships with different individuals, and the best way
others see us.

At any given second, we present the world solely a sure accessible a part of ourselves.
Sometimes it’s what we wish to present. Sometimes it’s what we’re prepared to point out.
Sometimes it could be a vulnerability that turns into seen solely in a selected state of affairs or
with a selected particular person.

So a portrait can reveal not an entire persona, however a brief development – certainly one of
its layers, certainly one of its states. A full illustration of the self appears unimaginable to me,
as a result of identification consists of many layers that come collectively in another way every time. When
we have a look at one other particular person, we see a brand new construction every time, even when the distinction is
delicate – the model of that particular person that’s accessible to us in that individual second.

©Alena Solomonova, Leftovers, Leftovers of the picture stay the place the face as soon as was. Layers of paper, coloration, and fragments exchange the options, suggesting an identification assembled from what’s left behind.

How do you determine when a self-portrait is full if identification itself is at all times in flux?

That is an excellent query, as a result of I do not likely outline this second rationally. It
occurs extra intuitively. At some level, I really feel that the work has reached a state that’s
ample for me at that second, after which I cease.

So the completion of a self-portrait shouldn’t be related to the concept the picture has turn out to be
closing or full. It is extra like a brief level, an unconscious alternative. At that second,
I’m happy with what has appeared, and the work is completed for me. But this doesn’t
imply that the picture, or the topic itself, can’t proceed to alter.

©Alena Solomonova, Stability, Identity splits in two, whereas the gesture of holding it collectively turns into solely an phantasm of stability.

What does the bodily destruction or alteration of the {photograph} help you
specific {that a} conventional portrait can’t?

I can’t say {that a} conventional portrait is unable to precise sure issues. I feel that in
expert palms, it could actually additionally specific an amazing deal, maybe even the identical issues I attempt to present
via my work. But my very own apply additionally has a psychological character.
When I work with my palms and bodily intervene within the picture, I work together not solely with
the {photograph} as a mirrored image, but additionally with my inside states. It turns into a means of
working intuitively with what’s in entrance of me and, on the identical time, with what is going on
inside me.

This intervention permits me to precise ache, rigidity, my relationship with the world, and
my relationship with myself. Through working by hand, these items seem in my apply
not essentially extra simply, however extra deeply and extra curiously. The bodily alteration
of the {photograph} turns the portrait from a picture right into a course of – an area the place inside
states may be lived via and made seen.

©Alena Solomonova, Split, An lively disintegration of identification and an try to protect at the least one thing from what’s falling aside.

How has your understanding of your self modified via the method of constructing
this work?

I feel, as with many artists, the longer I work, the extra braveness and openness seem. In
the start, it was fairly troublesome for me to intervene within the portrait. Sometimes it even felt
as if I used to be doing one thing improper, virtually damaging. But over time, it grew to become a pure
apply for me, and as an alternative of destruction, it gave me a way of freedom: I noticed that I
may do something with the picture.

At completely different levels, this appeared in numerous methods, and it was at all times related to my
relationship with myself. What I attempted to point out via self-portraiture helped me cope with
inside experiences, difficulties, and sure issues inside myself that I wanted to just accept.
The easiest instance is my relationship with my look. Since I started working with
self-portraits, I’ve turn out to be a lot calmer about the best way I look. Almost all of the insecurities
and dissatisfaction I used to have have progressively disappeared.

But a very powerful factor for me is that this can be a psychological course of. Things which might be
troublesome to precise in phrases, or via unusual actions, I can specific via working
with my palms. For me, this apply turns into a means of processing inside states and
helps me address psychologically troublesome moments.

©Alena Solomonova, Thoughts, Thoughts overflow the thoughts, leaving virtually no house for the self.

What position does concealment play in your portraits?

For me, maybe the extra essential position shouldn’t be concealment, however revelation. Concealment
could also be the start line – the sensation that there’s something hidden inside, one thing we
are looking for however can’t at all times attain or absolutely specific.

I really feel that this hidden half nonetheless exists someplace inside, even when some issues by no means absolutely
reveal themselves. My apply is constructed across the fixed transforming of the self and of the
picture. Through intervention within the {photograph}, I attempt to open what’s inside: to tug it out,
take it aside, reconstruct it, and put it collectively once more.

So concealment in my portraits shouldn’t be merely a means of hiding one thing. It is extra like a
state from which the motion towards revelation begins. Even if what’s hidden turns into
seen solely partially, the try to return nearer to you will need to me.

©Alena Solomonova, Paths, Obsessive repetition of ideas and actions turns into a closed system.

If there is no such thing as a closing or full portrait of the self, what retains you returning to self-portraiture as a method of inquiry?

For me, that is related to the query of identification, which is now in a slightly complicated state.
First, I’m an immigrant, and a number of other cultures are combined inside me as a result of I stay outdoors
the nation the place I used to be born. Second, the occasions of 2022, the start of the battle, deeply modified my relationship to my very own identification – to who I’m, the place I come from, and what
which means to me.

What is going on, and what my former homeland, Russia, is doing, grew to become very painful
for me. It led to deep reflection on what a part of me is occupied by this nation, which is now
very troublesome for me to understand as my very own or as a part of myself. At the identical time, it stays
a part of my previous, my reminiscence, and my formation. This half is troublesome to just accept, however additionally it is
unimaginable to easily separate it from myself.

So this course of of transforming doesn’t finish. It occurs constantly. That is why I return to
self-portraiture repeatedly, as a strategy to assemble and reassemble myself, to attempt to discover
one thing, to just accept one thing, or to acknowledge the impossibility of acceptance. For me, it
is an ongoing strategy of reflection, looking, and processing ache.

©Alena Solomonova, Noname. The self withdraws behind a protecting gesture: I’m not accessible to your gaze.

Who or what evokes you?

I’ve many sources of inspiration. Probably the best supply for me is different
photographers and artists – colleagues I do know personally, in addition to authors whose work I
comply with via social media, platforms, and publications. Seeing how others work, how they
develop, and the way in another way they strategy image-making and the query of identification
helps and evokes me an amazing deal.

If I talk about figures who’ve influenced on me most, then among the many classics Cindy
Sherman is essential to me. She additionally works with self-portraiture and makes use of it to discover
identification, the picture of ladies, roles, and modes of illustration. For me, she is in some
sense a job mannequin – an instance of how a picture and identification may be taken aside.

Among modern photographers, it’s troublesome for me to call only some individuals. My
imaginative and prescient of myself, my very own work, and the work of others is consistently altering, so the artists
I have a look at or really feel impressed by additionally change. There are a lot of them.

I’m additionally very impressed by the truth that I’m continually studying and surrounded by like-
minded individuals. This inventive neighborhood round me is among the strongest forces that
helps me transfer ahead.

©Alena Solomonova, What a large number. Identity begins to fragment as physique and thoughts fall out of sync, not forming a coherent complete, From the venture about perimenopause interval

What are you at present enthusiastic about — work you’ve seen, motion pictures, books?

In cinema, I really feel near the movies of Yorgos Lanthimos. I’m drawn to his aesthetics, to the
means he works with type, coloration, and visible language. But I’m additionally taken with his
relationship to life conditions — barely absurd, unusual, shifted. This is one thing that
surprises and evokes me. In common, I like artwork that is ready to shock me.

As for books, I learn continually. At the second, I’m studying The Three-Body Problem. It is
a really attention-grabbing ebook that makes me take into consideration individuals, about humanity, about relationships between individuals, how these relationships develop, and the place they’ll lead. It
additionally displays on how damaging individuals may be towards themselves. Unfortunately, that is
one thing we will additionally observe fairly clearly in actuality immediately.

©Alena Solomonova, Parts and holes. Too many modifications without delay: the thoughts overloaded, the physique estranged, the self barely in a position to comprise all of it. From the venture about perimenopause interval.

©Alena Solomonova, Parts and holes 2, The physique turns into unfamiliar territory, a panorama marked by modifications I can not acknowledge as mine, From the venture about perimenopause interval