Hanan Kazma

In her work, Hanan, a photographer living in Lebanon, explores the ideas of self and tries to re-examine the classic idea of portraiture, using a range of in-camera and post-production techniques. Often working as her own model, she experiments with how to represent the inner factors that make up our image rather than the image we project from the outside. 

Hanan is a very prolific artist and so far she has designed and published six books: “A Little Out of Tenderness” (2010), “Things I heard the light say” (2010), “In Solitude and Out of Control” (2011), “Unlike Things Must Meet” (2011, in collaboration with an American collage artist and poet Richard Leach), “Hacyka” (2012, in collaboration with a Belgian-based artist and photographer Cyril Berthault-Jacquier), and “A Brave Unbodied Scheme” (2013, in collaboration with Richard Leach). 

In 2011, Hanan had her first solo exhibition in Tripoli, Lebanon. 

We will be exhibiting a selection of Hanan’s self-portraits that we hope will show the variety of techniques and styles that she uses to construct a diverse concept of identity and to convey her stories. You can see more of Hanan's work on her page and find some of the books that she's published on her blurb page.

Sophie Berdzenishvili

"Now I’m here, on the land finally. My name is Sophie, living and working in Tbilisi (Georgia), in some boring job.

The start was here, trying to understand how to control my old soviet camera, a Zenit ET. The camera was a good weapon for me to tell my stories. I used to write stories, but found that telling them with a camera felt much more natural and interesting than with my pen.

I’ve never worked as a photographer, had any training or schooling - photography is a therapy; it helps me get to know myself better. Everything I do is a self portrait, my photos are a reflection of my mood, emotions and the world I live in maybe that’s why I never worked in a commercial field and can’t consider myself a photographer.

I used to get inspired with stories created in my mind or that I read in books, heard in songs or just from other people, daily recognition, living without the fear of reflecting my real self in photos helps me to live on and create as much as I can."

Once compared to Francesca Woodman, Sophie, sometimes the subject of her own images, uses surreal imagery to explore the concept of self and how it is projected to the world and how the world defines it.

Sophie often uses female models to try to conceptualise and question the role of women in society.

You can see more of Sophie's work here.

Marit Beer

"My world is black and white with shades of grey. Sometimes the colours get lost, they are like thoughts faded and blown away in the wind. 

I live and work in Berlin, writing for the German online photography magazine www.kwerfeldein.de and with a camera in my bag I am looking for stirring emotions.” 

Working exclusively on film and Polaroid, Marit uses traditional portraiture techniques and creates images that question the ideas of female identity. Her fine art and conceptual style of photography gives a depth and meaning to her sitters above the normal aesthetic object, normally reserved for models.

Marit was recently exhibited by aff galerie in Berlin.

We will be showing a selection of images from Marit’s “metamorphosis” series and some of her other works. 

You can contact Marit at maritbeer@gmx.de and see more of her images on Marit's website, Flickr, and on facebook.