HART LËSHKINA is a Los Angeles based collaborative artist duo
About ‘Out of You‘:
Hart Lëshkina’s new monograph Out of You explores themes of self-representation and construction of identity, subjectivity and memory.The book depicts an identity in constant flux at the time of transition between childhood and adolescence, rendering the moment when self discovery intersects with a new awareness of being observed by others. While the focus of the work is a young girl, Out of You is not a portrait of an individual, the girl’s real life personality is concealed. She performs and interprets a role for the camera constructed and directed by the artists, not unlike acting in a film, she becomes a medium for the artists exploration.
The chronology of the photographs is disrupted, each image an isolated moment, as that in the mind of an individual recalling fragmented childhood memories. At times, the girl’s gaze is direct and daring, confronting the camera; at others, she averts her eyes and appears to be caught in unguarded, private moments of contemplation.
Her postures and clothing, deliberately arranged by the artists, often mirror conventional western codes associated with femininity. The fact that these photographs are carefully staged seems to contradict their intimate and candid quality. The lack of contextual details encourages the viewer to constantly interpret and reinterpret the narrative. Even though these photographs have been created over a short period of time, the girl transforms before our eyes appearing to be a young child on one page, then a teen on the next. What’s revealed to the viewer is something internal to themselves that maps onto their own personal psyche and memories.
