METAMORPHOSIS

METAMORPHOSIS


CREDITS

GUP Author

GUP TEAM


Artist

Maria Pleshkova

Artist Website

mariapleshkova.com

Maria Pleshkova (b. 1986, Russia) faces her own personal growth in this series of black and white self-portraits, Metamorphosis. While some animals experience clear and visible transformations, like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, as humans we experience metamorphoses more in a metaphorical sense. However, just like the caterpillar, Pleshkova said that she felt as though she was going through a parallel transformation herself.

She says, “I turned 30 and was completely lost. I suddenly realized my own finiteness.” She tries to express the anxiety, fears and obsessions of this expression through her images, which involve mutations, dissolutions and fantastical imaginations. Each portrait portrays the development of creation as Pleshkova asks, “Am I still alive?”