FotoFirst — Away from Her Friends, Kate Smuraga Uses Photography to Cope with Her Nostalgia
For today’s Cameo we’re having 26 year-old Belarussian photographer Kate Smuraga, who shares with us her new, previously unpublished series of staged portraits Nobody Important, No One Else. See here for all the projects who previously premiered on FotoRoom.
Ciao Kate, how are you?
Ahoy! I’m fine, thank you. It’s raining outside so I’m going to stay home and watch a space adventure film.
What is photography for you?
A photographer never just captures something for no particular reason. By photographing a subject, we always express a certain attitude towards it, even if unintentionally. So for me photography is an opportunity to tell stories, a language. I like to work with photography’s ability to be poetic. I focus on things that touch me deeply and I hope that my pictures can be interpreted in different ways.
What is Nobody Important, No One Else about?
Some time ago I moved from a city where I had lived for 5 years. Now I’m far away from my friends and everything I love. For a long time I didn’t even try to meet new people—I was literally stuck in the past. But one day I woke up and realized that it’s impossible to keep holding on things you should let go. So first of all, Nobody Important, No One Else is about a perception of my inner world, torn between extreme nostalgia and the complicated process of adapting to a new environment. This series is my way to find a “homeland” which exists somewhere in between the place I’ve lost, and the place I haven’t found yet. It’s a project about friendship, about relationships that end all of the sudden, and about those who remain strong in spite of distance in time and space.
Where can you be found online?
Here’s my website.