Final year Photography BA(Hons) student Violetta Liszka’s work ‘Mental Illness’ (2015) has been selected for the Shape Open 2015 exhibition “My Life” to be held at Yinka Shonibare’s Project space, “Guest Projects”, London. https://www.shapearts.org.uk/News/my-life-shape-open

Violatte Lisz

‘Mental Illness’ (2015) Violetta Liszka

“The photo refers to the problem of mental health. The decision to cover the face – blacking out its features by placing a translucent black material – is full of symbolic and psychological meanings. The face expresses everything and you recognise people by their faces. Covering may mean hiding, escaping or being invisible. Despite the veil we can clearly see that the person is screaming…” 

The exhibition will run from 5 February to 20 February 2016 and we wish Violetta good luck and congratulations!

About the artist:
Violetta Liszka is a photographer specialising in dramatic, striking portraits that often capture the theatrical or artistic experience.

 Within her work she plays with the concept of art and performance using location, depth of field and light to dramatic effect.

Violetta considers place to be as important as subject: for example she is currently building a body of work based on portraits of artists working within visual arts, music, design, dance and theatre, locating the subjects in a way that corresponds to their artistic impulses. 

Although her focus is on photography it is often used to reflect Violetta’s wide-ranging creative interests that include painting, fashion design, history of art and art criticism. She often uses her own artwork and fashion designs within photographs, while another project involves recreating well-known paintings in a way that expresses Violetta’s own responses to the works.

 Violetta is also working on a new project creating 3-D artists’ books: individual handcrafted experiences of artists’ work using calligraphy, paintings, photographs and constructs.

For more information, further work and contact information please see the artist’s website: www.celesteprize.com/violetta