On Dreams and Screens
by Ira Lupu
PV : 3 November 2022 – 4– 11PM
@The Others Art Fair : Corso Massimo d’Azeglio, 15F, 10126 Torino TO, Italia
A Darling Pearls & Co’s selection of photographs from Ira Lupu’s series On Dreams and Screens featuring Ukrainian camgirls at The Others Art Fair, Turin.
Space 2 / Orange
The Others Art Fair : https://www.theothersartfair.com/
For the last few years, human relationships have been rendered increasingly remote, occurring over video calls on the other side of a screen. Through the experiences of a group of Ukrainian online sex workers, On Dreams and Screens (2020) investigates how intimate and real we can get through a web camera, and how the physical body transitions into an electronic one. Online webcam models, or cam girls, turn out to be experts in the field of screen-based human bonding—their livelihoods depend on it.
“I photographed them and talked to them in moments of self-contemplation — in the places of their childhoods, favorite nature spots, and at home. I sought to understand the paradoxical relationship of intimacy and distance, connection and disconnection, in a world newly transformed.
Whilst living in between Eastern Europe and the Western world, I became exceedingly concerned by the “othering” and fetishizing of Ukrainian women. On Dreams and Screens provides a more nuanced portrait of a Ukrainian cam girl, and celebrates her beyond any fantasies or cliches.” – Ira Lupu
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Ira Lupu is a photographer, visual artist, and curator born in Odesa, Ukraine, and currently based in NYC. She is a graduate of the International Center of Photography, and Viktor Marushchenko’s School of Photography (Kyiv). In her ‘metaphoric documentary’ pratice, the carefully and empathetically researched human worlds collide with ethereality. Her work has been published and reviewed in the New York Times, i-D, Dazed, the British Journal of Photography, Vogue UK, Italia, Spain, Musee Magazine, among others. A member of Diversify.Photo, Ira is represented through IFAC Arts (NYC) and Darling Pearls & Co (London).
Her latest project On Dreams and Screens explores the liminal spaces between the physicality and virtuality though the experiences of Ukrainian online sex workers. Initially supported by Prince Claus Fund and Tbilisi Photography and Multimedia Museum, it has been exhibited across Europe and the U.S., including solo and group shows at Christie’s London, Christie’s Paris, Rotterdam Art Week, Copenhagen Photo Festival, Dallas Contemporary, Wembley Art Trail, etc. – @iralupu