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...

Meet Regina Maria Anzenberger, the Juror of ‘Visual Storytelling’

City of Rivers — Maciej Leszczynski Shows Us the Jaw-Dropping New Face of Chongqing

Finding Signs of Modernity in the Promised Land and Other Historical Places of the Middle East

Nick Hannes Captures the Contrasts of Dubai and Its Lifestyle

FotoFirst — Christophe Caudroy Shares Stunning Photos of Major Asian Cities

Laszlo-Tibor Olah Wins the Single Image Category of Our ‘Human Environments’ Open Call

Antoine Bruy Wins the Series Category of Our ‘Human Environments’ Open Call
