When Anna Malgina releases the shutter on her camera, a single frame is captured, but two stories are told. For Anna, her subjects are only the starting point for her work, as all of her photos are meant to be just as much about the richness of her own inner world as they are about the complexities of the events that are occurring in front of the lens. It’s the merging of these two spheres that gives this young Russian photographer’s work the incredible depth that you see.
Anna creates this modality largely through her careful selection of photographic technique, whose purpose is to harmonize the subject and her own state of mind. And like written entries in a diary, Anna’s photographs are a window into her private life, tinted by the colours of her thoughts, feelings, and experiences. For her, this process is as much a therapeutic one as it is creative, given how it helps her bring closure to the more difficult things that are going on in her life.
And once she’s come to terms with those hardships, she might find that she’s not only ready to move on to new styles and techniques, but to turn the page and begin a new chapter in her life.
intro by Alex-J Moskovitz
Why do you love photography?
It’s a perfect way to express myself and to appropriate the things around me. It’s a perfect tool for discovering the world and feeling power.
You are working on a lot of different series. As a creative person, where do you get your inspiration?
I am mostly inspired by problems which surround me, photography is somehow a tool for recovery and therapy. When I moved to another country I started to research the migration topic by using photography. I did the same with my husband, in order to get to know each other better and for a better understanding I photographed him.
Which series is your most personal one and why?
I am currently working on a project about my adaptation in Italy, this one is really personal, because I try to use photography and evidence of presence and evidence of belonging of myself to the place which I never belonged to.
“I am mostly inspired by problems which surround me, photography is somehow a tool for recovery and therapy.”
In your bio it says: “Anna addresses the issues of film history aesthetics and cinematographic touch in photography.” Can you tell us more about that?
As a film historian, I try to use my background in photography. I studied the “new wave” cinema and I try to transport this feeling by doing a portrait series. Also, I did one project dedicated to Jean Cocteau and his film Le sang d’un poète.
What is your one golden rule in life?
Be sincere.
Where do you see yourself in the future?
I would love to move to Berlin.
annamalgina.com
www.instagram.com/annaamalgina
