Withered flower petals fallen from a bouquet past its prime. Trash bags waiting for pickup from New York City sanitation. A fleeting expression on the face of a loved one.
As time zooms by, emerging NYC-based artist Masha Morgunova keeps her SLR-680 polaroid camera close at hand. Snapping everything from mundane moments to sublime highs, Masha uses photography to record her life in “The City That Never Sleeps.” “I have been using this medium as a way to construct a tangible visual diary that allows me to observe what has been of interest to me at a given time and record moments of intimacy with people, objects, and my surroundings,” she explains in her artist statement.
Masha maintains a more traditional studio practice of painting, sculpture, and silicone casting that ebbs and flows, but photography remains her most consistent creative outlet since being gifted the camera in 2019. As the project grows, disparate images—banana peels, the seashell curve of an ear, dark eyes fenced by white flowers—become greater than the sum of their parts, the details blurred by long shutter speeds and the passage of time. Intimate and inviting, Masha’s expanding collection of polaroids transforms her city life into a haunting meditation on longing, nostalgia, womanhood, and desire.
If you’re in the New York area, Masha’s figurative work appears in Ignite, BAU Gallery’s annual juried show, on display through September 4.
Intimate and inviting, Masha’s expanding collection of polaroids transforms her city life into a haunting meditation on longing, nostalgia, womanhood, and desire.
Masha Morgunova: Website | Instagram
All photos published with permission of the artist(s).
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