Korte beschrijving/Annotatie

Questioning the impossibility of captivating someone else’s inner world through photography through portraits and conversations with four protagonists.

Tekst achterflap

What are the psychological effects of a pandemic and how do we look back on these times of social isolation? Has it changed how we relate to others and the world around us? Mafalda Rakoš (AT) questions the impossibility of captivating someone else’s inner world through photography. But also how portraying others relates to discourses around representation, especially in anthropological research. Together with four protagonists, the artist questioned how social isolation affected their mental health and their non-substance addictions. Through sessions involving conversations, drawings, and portraits, Rakoš tried to render something invisible – a sense of loneliness, confusion, or even harmony and calm – visible on camera. As the meetings unfolded, their dialogical character took center stage.

Slogan/Promotie

What are the psychological effects of a pandemic and how do we look back on these times of social isolation? Has it changed how we relate to others and the world around us? Mafalda Rakoš (AT) questions the impossibility of captivating someone else’s inner world through photography. But also how portraying others relates to discourses around representation, especially in anthropological research. Together with four protagonists, the artist questioned how social isolation affected their mental health and their non-substance addictions. Through sessions involving conversations, drawings, and portraits, Rakoš tried to render something invisible – a sense of loneliness, confusion, or even harmony and calm – visible on camera. As the meetings unfolded, their dialogical character took center stage.

Biografie

Mafalda Rakoš lives and works between Vienna and Amsterdam. Triggered by the ethical conflict around portraying and representing others, she develops collaborative approaches to create long-term projects in the intersection of art, anthropology and documentary photography, with a strong emphasis on dialogue and mutual decision-making. She has been working with females and males affected by eating disorders since 2013. Her work has been nominated and honored several times at international awards and was exhibited in museums such as the Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, Benaki Museum, Athens and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, as well as shown outside an art context at conferences on eating disorders or at the General Hospital in Vienna.

Details