Hunters and Victims

About Svetlana Melik - Nubarova

Inexpressible fragility of beingSvetlana Melik-Nubarova stages the subjects of her ‘Inexpressible fragility of being’ series in perfect harmony with their surroundings. The boundary between humans and nature is blurred as the women in… Read more

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Inexpressible fragility of being

Svetlana Melik-Nubarova stages the subjects of her ‘Inexpressible fragility of being’ series in perfect harmony with their surroundings. The boundary between humans and nature is blurred as the women in focus intimately coexist with birds, flowers, and trees. Simultaneously, the photographer creates a compelling interaction between femininity and fragility that makes the works feel larger than life. Her figures appear as gentle as fairies and as sophisticated as the Madonnas of Italian Renaissance paintings. Melik-Nubarova articulates complex themes such as identity and emotions in a mystically elegant style that inspires the viewer to both engage and daydream.  The title of the series - The Inexpressible Fragility of Being - illustrates the artist's profound yet soulful approach to her works.


Metaphors

Moose used to be hunted as their antlers were highly prized trophies. But what happens when a moose decides to hold a gun and go hunting itself? Well, he then belongs to the Metaphors series by Svetlana Melik-Nubarova and likely invites his friends to the hunt: the fashionably dressed giraffe and the graceful cat with perfect manners. With titles like Hunters and Victims, the artist portrays various animals in a style reminiscent of the portraiture of the past centuries and the portrayals of aristocrats. Only on closer inspection do the works reveal themselves to be an imaginative play on the human-animal relationship. In doing so, Svetlana Melik-Nubarova reverses the roles of pets and owners, of hunters and the hunted, in order to question our habitual thought processes. The works in the Metaphors series are an invitation into a world of mythical creatures with a surprisingly historical framework.


Two great passions collide in the works of Svetlana Melik-Nubarova: painting and an interest in psychology. The photographer likes to stage her works in the style of well-known historical paintings, those which became icons of their time and are now considered milestones in the history of art. At the same time, however, the subjects in her works possess a surreal, sometimes fairytale-like quality that leadsthe viewer on a journey into fascinating depths of consciousness.

VITA

Svetlana Melik-Nubarova was born in Kazakhstan in 1973 and studied both music and painting at the Kazakh National Conservatory.
The artist has participated in group exhibitions around the world in cities such as Tokyo, Paris, and Siena. She has also won several photography awards. Today Melik-Nubarova lives and works in Turkey.