FotoFirst — Lux and Lumen: Varvara Mikushkina Studies Direct and Reflected Light












Ciao Varvara, how are you?
I am doing well, trying to balance life, making work and surviving in general.
What is photography for you?
Photography is many things. I have been making photographs for a long time and I think that photography changes according to how I relate myself to the outside world. I use it to facilitate how I experience my environment and of course to document my life.
What is Lux and Lumen about?
Lux and Lumen is about the false-ness of images. The title refers to the terms for direct light and reflected light. Also, “lux” is a play on luxury, and the focus on the false value we place on certain objects of fashion or desire. I was highly influenced by the palette and aesthetics of an old Soviet TV show and I wanted to push the idea between a real or an imagined narrative. Aesthetically there is a play between the objects and their reflective materiality as they are bathed in this “nostalgic light”. I was interested in how that type of hallucinatory cast can be expanded upon to influence the perception of the subject matter. The make-shift still lifes, landscapes and portraits don’t offer any answers and I enjoy this ambiguity within the series.
Where can you be found online?
At my website and on Instagram.
Keep looking...

Longing for Roots — Sanni Saarinen Reconnects with the Places of Her Childhood

FotoFirst — Yu Suet Man’s Models Pose Nude as an Act of Freedom

FotoFirst — Iacopo Pasqui’s Images Comment on Being Thirty-ish and Living in the Suburbs

Charlie Surfs on Lotus Flowers — Simone Sapienza Explores Contemporary Vietnam

Michael Hicks’ Mysterious, Cinematic Photos Reflect on the Roles We Play in Life

Patryk Karbowski Shoots the Young Poles Leaving Their Hometowns in Search of a Better Future

Nanna Heitmann Documents Life along the Banks of the Yenisei River
