First of all, Misia-O’, I’d like to comment you for taking on a very complicated project. I’m especially impressed by how you have reduced the complexity og gender and identity to such clear statements-the focus on gesture, motion, ambiguity, and detail are beautiful evocative, and the captions you’ve assigned offer an elegant bit of additional information.

lensculture, Exposure Awards /1⁷

I exhausted my parents (and still do) with endless questions relating to art, physics, the meaning of the world,religions and spirituality. Luckily for me, both Parents are ex-Professors and very well-versed in literature, art, science and philosophy.

I was drawn to study quantum physics in order to get a deeper understanding of those very dimensions, of time, of light and colours, so that I can apply it as a tool in my photography. I speak regularly to my Dad who helps me navigate between geometry, maths and quantum physics, explaining me how ratio, perspective, the speed of light and multi-dimensions are created, and how I can use this knowledge with my philosophical quest on the subject of our multiplicity as human, our identity and on the perception of time. I am grateful to have such a gifted Dad and literate Mum, able to help my über-curious mind understand some of life's complexities and mysteries through the study of science, philosophy and literature.

My ongoing ‘Different Shades Of...’ series of photographs challenges the perception we have of what a colour - and a non-colour - may be, and how the way we interpret colour is often blinkered or prejudiced as a result of societal beliefs and misguided prejudices, associated mistakenly to different cultures, religions, myths and politics, which are often based on medieval and empiricist theories that no longer have a relevance in contemporary life.

I approach the subject of colours – skin colours of different human beings and the way these colours are mirrored in nature (a tautology in itself as humans are part of nature) from a mix of perhaps basic scientific research - after all I am not a scientist - and then I proceed to look into its impact over centuries in anthropology, culture, politics, religions art and spirituality. My Mum helps me with literature and artistic references and it is fascinating to see how various colours tap into our deepest fears and greed, or elevate our souls, and how their meanings vary totally from one culture to another. When all is a simple perception of our retina with the variants of light affecting it (Trichromatic theory).

In turn, my aim is to compress this information into abstract and simplified pictures, hopefully poetic and pleasing to the eye, encouraging the onlooker to discover its multi-layers and subtle symbolisms referring to the culture, colour coding and perception, spirituality and humanism of my images and the people or natural objects they depict.