Flower Smuggler / Diana Tamane
- Book Size : 225 x 300 mm
- Pages : 178 pages
- Binding : hardcover
- Publication Date : 2020, 1
- Published by Art Paper Editions(APE)
- First edition of 500
It is zooming in and out. It feels like when you can’t focus your camera in the darkness. Trying to approach from different angles, not knowing how close to be or how distant.
As a basis for my photographic and video works I use autobiographical elements – memory, everyday routines and personal events. The constant measuring of the intimate distances, the exploration of the places where I belong and the questioning of my own identity are the processes that link my existence and my artistic practice. Often I am interested in what is broken or not functional, quiet tensions in the communication between people. I use daily events and inner conflicts as a tool to reflect on contemporary life.
Starting with tiny movements and awkward gestures I am following long roads from the East to West of Europe and my family members are often the main characters in my work. Sometimes it is my grandmother, who becomes smuggler by intending to cross Latvian/Russian border with two small pots of flowers or it is dad, who since mid 90’s makes frequent runs to West to buy cars, electronics and other items to resell it in Latvia, or it is my mom, who became the truck driver after her enterprise went bankrupt several years ago. Often I am using vernacular photography taken by my family members exposing kitsch aesthetics of the working class, whose tastes are generally rendered insignificant by cultural elite. Through narratives of my family I want to show different social processes and movements of today, creating a portrait of contemporary society.
It is zooming in and out. It feels like when you can’t focus your camera in the darkness. Trying to approach from different angles, not knowing how close to be or how distant.
As a basis for my photographic and video works I use autobiographical elements – memory, everyday routines and personal events. The constant measuring of the intimate distances, the exploration of the places where I belong and the questioning of my own identity are the processes that link my existence and my artistic practice. Often I am interested in what is broken or not functional, quiet tensions in the communication between people. I use daily events and inner conflicts as a tool to reflect on contemporary life.
Starting with tiny movements and awkward gestures I am following long roads from the East to West of Europe and my family members are often the main characters in my work. Sometimes it is my grandmother, who becomes smuggler by intending to cross Latvian/Russian border with two small pots of flowers or it is dad, who since mid 90’s makes frequent runs to West to buy cars, electronics and other items to resell it in Latvia, or it is my mom, who became the truck driver after her enterprise went bankrupt several years ago. Often I am using vernacular photography taken by my family members exposing kitsch aesthetics of the working class, whose tastes are generally rendered insignificant by cultural elite. Through narratives of my family I want to show different social processes and movements of today, creating a portrait of contemporary society.