From  25th of November ArtDepoo hosts  Maria Kapajeva new  photography exhibition "Call Me Early"

Before moving to the UK for photography education, Maria got her Economics Degree at Tartu University (Estonia) and worked in Marketing area several years. Her passion of photography brought her to Farnham where she recently graduated from UCA BA Photography course. Her works has been exhibited in different cities of UK including London, Nottingham and Brighton.

Art critic Eero Epner on Maria current show:
"Intimacy has interested photographers since the invention of the mentioned medium. It’s true that the angles of approach have been widely different. We all know the old daguerreotypes portraying famous people or ordinary citizens and showing a person more or less like we believe what he or she actually “is like” or “was like”. Because photography, as we tend to forget, never lies and we consider inherent the fact that it neither glosses things over nor is selective but is honest and objective – i.e. intimate.

But photography has been interested in intimacy from cheap pornography to various documental projects or press photography depicting the sick, the dying, those who need help, regions of crisis, psychological dramas etc. One shouldn’t also forget the so-called everyday photography that has widespread in the last decades and has now, with the development of digital media, become hugely popular. We can be sure that at this very moment somebody is taking pictures of a birthday party, a funeral, a child’s first football game, a sexual act or some other family-related or personal intimate ritual.

Yet Maria Kapajeva’s intimate images that have grown into a series during the last two and a half years and are still growing are special. First of all nothing exceptional is shown here but to the contrary, everything very ordinary. Nothing has to happen to become Kapajeva’s model; you just have to wake up with your face slightly “off”. By the way, all the models are Kapajeva’s acquaintances – shortly: from her intimate circle. Second, it is not Kapajeva’s interest to have the people in her photographs be somehow “arranged”. She discards the regular ritual of preparing for a photo-shoot and captures moments that people wouldn’t like to have exposed about them. They do not look too appetizing here, are even a little cross and in no way “presentable”. But that sensitive moment is what Kapajeva is intrigued by.

In addition to sleep Kapajeva is also interested in art. Black and white tonality allows speaking about “generalization” which is also supported by the relative lack of details. We don’t see any excess items, only the pure image that is almost graphic. One shouldn’t seek special religious connotations in a halo behind a person’s head: the circle of light here is probably nothing else than the morning sun lighting the person’s first face of the day. That can be suggested even if we know that the sun was not shining that day and we are dealing with a technological trick which occurs at printing. It’s just really cool that a photographer has happened to stand beside the bed and considered that sincere, unprotected and sweet moment worth photographing."

Exhibtion lasts till  19th of December. Traditional artist talk will be held in nontraditional format - it will be moderated by representatives of two different photography schools Krista Mölder and Lika Chekalova (RUS). It will take place on 26th of  November at 5 p.m., artist talk will be held in English.

Exhibition is organized with assistance from the British Council.

Media:

24.11.2009
Maria Kapajeva näitus ArtDepoos /RUS/
Raadio 4, Tatjana Kosmõnina

11.12.2009
Unised näod Artdepoos
Äripäev