Veronika Lavey
Veronika Lavey’s studio is located in Herefordshire, UK.
Of her work, she says, “ I am a self-portrait artist. I photograph myself taking on the persona of an autobiographical or a theatrical character to create artwork depicting resilience and strength in hardship. My work illuminates shared emotional experiences to create a sense of belonging relying mostly on personal experiences of what it feels like to be a misfit. My mission is to reproduce familiar feelings into visuals through conceptually layered, digitally manipulated photographs, as well as the written word, which often accompanies the images, usually in poetry form.
My methodology to create self-portraits remains consistent in its process, whereby I work alone with the aid of a camera, a tripod and a remote control. However, I use a variety of ideas to create narratives I believe we are all connected to; the ones we are naturally wired to listen to, the ones that make us feel united in our pain, our hopes our journey of life. To me, being an artist is a never-ending journey through these ideas and human experiences. It is an exciting journey; building images from scratch, employing a rich visual language of surrealism and symbolism, which is made more familiar by often involving the natural elements of the woodland.
Ideas for the images are drawn from a myriad of sources; from conversations with people experiencing hardship, through poetry (my own as well as others’), to the woods I visit daily. They are linked by the same personal desire to find my own fit in the world.
The final piece usually looks completely different from the original photograph. I carefully blend elements, highlight the subject and choose appropriate clothing and an ambiguous location to give the finished work a feeling of timelessness.
I don’t capture moments, I capture relatable feelings, which the audience can then translate into their own stories.”