Gazing behind the flawless surface of nature world, and later into her personal shadows,
Anoushka Fisz’ portraits aspire to reveal the unseen by way of extreme closeups of the subject. Early photographs of plants were infused with the dramatic sensibilities of classic portraits, provoking an unease in the viewer by displaying hidden details normally overlooked in everyday life. Years later, confronted by emotions triggered by a life-changing event, led to a dramatic shift in her work as the artist turned the camera towards herself.
Fisz’ apprenticeship in Paris in the late eighties taught her the first lessons about dramatic storytelling through the distance to a subject. Her mentor, a photographer named Plichta, had returned to the city of lights after shooting classic portraits of movie stars in Los Angeles in the forties and fifties. From the constellation of individual portraits of Hollywood’s golden era that had built the career of the French photographer, Fisz found inspiration to create her own collection of portraits.
These photographs would be far from glitz and glamour. The debut show in London at the Mayor Gallery, titled ‘Alien Sex Mother’, displayed an exotic side of the natural world. Clusters of tiny fruits opening, photographed in microscopic details, unveil a visual aggressive composition of a multi-eyed alien monster; the surface of frond leaves depicts a surreal landscape from the far side of the moon; or buds and blossoms that become weirdly erotic. They bend and furl, contract and expand, bathed in light and shade. The silver gelatin prints are toned in pearlescent sepia giving them a layer of tactile softness in opposition to the plants’ often visually aggressive disposition. Their titles, too, offset the palatable eroticism of the image; names such as ‘Mandarin and Geisha’ evoke narratives of exotic peoples and locales.
In 2001 she released
It’s Killing Me, a very intimate series of works where she tries to come to terms with the changes in her life. The collection of monochrome portraits shows the artist in different emotional expressions. One image lacks almost any facial expressions, just a blank stare onto an unfixed point in front of her; motionless as a marble statue, highlighted by her flawless complexion and classical beauty. The viewer cannot help to feel empathy, although suspecting that behind the surface lies a volcano of sensations ready to erupt anytime, as seen in another of her portraits from the series.
It’s Killing Me by
Anoushka Fisz, her second major solo show in London, opened at Eyestorm’s gallery in November 2001 - and from the show four photographic editions of the same title were released. Printed on paper in editions of 100 each, the dusty black colour enhanced by the matt surface of the iris prints give each work a calm appearance, highlighting the contrast between light and darkness.