Page 55 - Australian Photography Feb 2022

ALLA KUYUNZHI
@kualla_alla
NARCISSISM
Alla Kuyunzhi says her life started all over again in 2009 when she immigrated to Australia from her native Russia. “In 2011 my son Ethan was born, and in 2014 my daughter Eva. It was the birth of my daughter that revealed my creative streak and a desire to create,” she said.
Alla plunged herself into the world of self- portraits, with her Creative category winning image ‘Narcissism’ a call to look within yourself before blaming the world for cruelty.
“I was walking along the beach when I began to notice the dry prickly bushes every- where,” she explained. “I decided to take a few branches home, feeling an unconscious idea was generating somewhere deep inside.
Having photographed myself in a dress and the dress full of thorns on its own, I combined both photos in Photoshop. I wanted to create a timeless look, resembling human feelings that have been around for centuries.
After taking this photo, my hands were scratched and covered in blood. It strongly resembled the relationships of many people with one another,” she said.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID
MARK GALER: The power of this image to arouse a strong emotive reaction from the viewer comes from a ‘less is more’ ap- proach to the design and execution. With its limited colour palette and simple yet powerful design, there is nothing to dis- tract our attention from the central sharp branches bursting forth from the woman’s unbuttoned garment and the woman’s face turned away from the viewer’s gaze. We are filled with more questions than answers as we try to resolve the contradic- tions of subject matter that at one moment
seem perfectly still but, as we look deeper, could be a frozen moment of some sudden and unexplained explosion. A photograph is sometimes richer when it does not have all the answers, as we are invited to bring some of our own ideas to help resolve the visual narrative.
SALLY BROWNBILL: Alla has demonstrat- ed a strong knowledge of image mak- ing with this work. The colour palette
is beautifully chosen, and the composi- tion, editing and choice of talent shows great skill. Technically, this is not an easy image to pull off. It has a strong narrative and remains visually pleasing to the eye, while showing excellent con- trol in putting all the elements together.
PRIZE: $1000 cash; BenQ Photography Monitor valued from $750, plus a Nokia X20 smartphone valued at $599.
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CREATIVE
WINNER