Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art presents an exhibition by the Vitebsk-based art photographer DASHA ART who has the skill of finding beauty in both complex and simple forms
- A fictional geometrized world in which humans are merely part of the cosmos
- A retrospective show of the artist’s most important photographic projects bearing a vivid imprint of the medium of painting
- A photographer easily switching between the tasks of designer, stylist, and makeup artist
Daria Yeremeyeva is a true professional, equally capable of shooting a startling fashion lookbook and creating a photo essay about dump truck production. She, however, insists on being called an artist, explaining that photography is only her tool, albeit the primary one.
A new artwork can sometimes be inspired by the most unexpected things. The artist has the skill of finding beauty in both complex and simple forms and poeticising any household item, be it an old enamel kettle or a quirky mesh with no clear purpose – a sieve? a beekeeper’s mask? – its original intended use being of little to no importance, as it is ultimately bound to become a hat!
Most celebrated photographs depend on the often sidelined collective effort of stylists, designers, lighting assistants, and many other members of the crew. Yeremeyeva’s creations, however, are born out of a close collaboration of the photographer and her model. The whimsical costumes and accessories are usually constructed by Daria herself. Even the characteristic makeup that seems to make faces pointedly non-human is usually done by her and not a dedicated MUA. Having assumed their new roles, all characters find themselves in harmony with their geometrized imagined environment. Taking cue from the model, the viewer, too, is transported into the fictional world of perfect shapes and colours in which humans are merely part of the cosmos. A cow lady or a face lost in the colourful pattern of circles and triangles similarly indicate that the universe can conform to the laws of beauty – all it takes is to sort it out a bit, perhaps by starting with the immediate surroundings. If a stapler on your desk is covered with dust, maybe it is high time for it to become a tie clip.
DASHA ART is synonymous with a certain style bearing a vivid imprint of the medium of painting. Not incidentally, the exhibition features several works created as tributes to the avant-garde artists who put Vitebsk on the world art map. In the past several years, Daria, too, has been increasingly experimenting with painting. All the more interesting is this retrospective casting a backward glance on her most important photographic projects.
Member of the Federation of European Photographers (FEP), Daria Yeremeyeva was born in Vitebsk in 1990 and graduated from the School of Visual and Graphic Arts of the Pyotr Masherov Vitebsk State University. She is known professionally as DASHA ART.
Standing to the artist’s credit are dozens of prestigious international design, contemporary art, and photography prizes, including Siena International Photo Awards, International Photography Awards (IPA), and Moscow International Foto Awards (MIFA), to name just a few. In 2020, Daria was named FEP European Professional Photographer of the Year. In the same year, she represented her country at Expo 2020 Dubai as the Republic of Belarus pavilion exhibition designer. In 2023, DASHA ART was among the winners of the Erarta Prize.
