Inna Etuvgi - an art photographer with Aphantasia, specializing in
the macro world of northern nature, based in Sweden.
Etuvgi was born in 1982 in a small village on the shores of the
Arctic Ocean in Chukotka, Russia.
In 2005 Etuvgi graduated from the Faculty of Technical Cybernetics
of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University with honours and a master's degree.
In 2018 Etuvgi moved to Sweden, where being inspired by the local nature, she
started macro photography in 2020. Technical education became for the author a
good basis for self-education in photography, which in turn became her ideal
medium to express feelings and the way to explore the world. In 2022 Etuvgi
became a finalist at the Arte Laguna Prize 16 with her macro photos of Cladonia
Stellaris lichens. Etuvgi's artworks are in private collections in Netherlands,
Norway, Sweden, Russia, and England.
Etuvgi has visual blindness of the mind, which is called Aphantasia.
She can visualize neither memories nor dreams about the future. Her inner
screen is off, says Etuvgi about the imagination. Instead of images, her
fantasy stands on mental concepts, ideas, and emotions. The mind's disability
in visual imagination has moved Etuvgi to find her way in creative photography.
As she says, the camera became an instrument, a kind of prosthesis that helps
her to see the imaginary world.
"I've grown up in the far north, where nature is undersized,
and in some places, only lichens and mosses can grow. I think that macro
photography is the best instrument to explore the world of northern nature, as
it helps us to see something that is so small that often stays unseen or even
hidden from our naked eyes. And for me, "macro" has become even more
than photography, but is an instrument to explore my inner world.
Having Aphantasia, I never know in advance what I will shoot, I
don't have any references or planning, as my imagination lacks images. Instead,
I have emotions and ideas, that I perceive through the whole body. The
visualization of my self-experiences and my fantasies, I find in macro
photography. It is hard to explain, but it feels like the "video
signal" of my imagination goes to the screen of my camera, which in its
turn becomes a kind of my fantasy prosthesis.
Photography for me is more about an experiment and a search, which
aim is to find something that captures me and reflects my ideas or feelings.
And it is like a dialogue with nature when nature speaks with me in the visual
language, telling stories that I can capture to share with others.
In my photos, I want to show people the world of Nature through my
eyes and show that we live in a wonderful world! The same way as we want to
know better someone with whom we fall in love, I offer to know better the world
around us, as it also can be the way to understand ourselves" - says
Etuvgi.
ABOUT THE
PROJECT:
The
project "A World Beyond Aphantasia" is a collection of photos through
which I show how I perceive my inner world of fantasy having blindness of
mind's eye, and how new technology and love for nature helped me turn my
inability into my strong side, helping me to find the visualization of my ideas
via photography. It is about otherworldly and surrealistic northern nature,
about the way to see our world wider and it is about our fantasy.
The
project has two parts and it will be continued.
1.
"InnerSpace Dreamscapes. The world Beyond Aphantasia" is a collection
of macro photos of dewdrops and raindrops, which reflects my inner world, where
the drop represents my consciousness, the me-idea, that floats in the abstract
world of verbal thoughts and concepts inside my mind. In other words, it is a
visualization of experiencing myself through macro photography.
As I have
an Aphantasia or blindness of the mind's eyes, there are no images of people,
even of close ones, or whatever else in my mind. And I don't hear voices or
sound memories in my head. All I have are ideas, understandings, and concepts
that are "colored" with emotions and feelings that run all over the
body.
The
thoughts and ideas in my mind are just words, which have a verbal form, that is
abstract. And among them, there is also an idea of me, which is like a drop of
the essence, that is condensed from all the experiences, which are curling
inside and are reflected on the surface. This is how I experience myself.
Visualization for my self-experience I have found in the macro photography of
morning dews and raindrops.
When I
captured these abstract landscapes with a floating drop for the first
time, I had a very interesting feeling
of a beautiful deja vu. The feeling when you kind of recognize something very
familiar to you and at the same time you understand that it is new and you have
never seen it before. It was like opening a new dimension in the understanding
of myself via exploring the external. And this is what I want to share with
others through this collection: when we look at the world from another angle,
we can make a step outside the mind. And making a step outside the mind we get
deeper inside it and can understand ourselves better.
2.
"SAGOSKOGEN" is a collection of photos of a fantasy macro world of
northern nature, captured in the forest of Huskvarna. In Swedish
"Saga" means fairytale, and "Skogen" means forest, so
"Sagoskogen" means the fairytale forest.
Photography
for me is the way to explore the world of nature to know something new, to
understand more about our world, and also to wonder and find the visual form
for my thoughts and fantasies.
Having a
focus on the otherworldly-looking macro world of lichens and mosses, I like to
observe how my imagination works. How it can create a story, building up the
full picture based on a small detail, that reminds something. It gives a
feeling of connection with nature, a feeling that nature is telling the stories
in the visual language, stories that I can capture to share with others.
SUMMARY:
Through
photos, I want to show the world of Nature through my eyes and say that we live
in a wonderful world! In the same way, as we want to know better someone with
whom we fall in love, I offer to know better the world around us, as it also
can be the way to understand ourselves. Let’s explore for love and to wonder!
Thank you
for your attention!
Love and
light,
Inna
Etuvgi
