Olga Izakson

Journey

‘Journey’ is Olga Izakson’s first museum project. The exhibition includes two of her most important series, ‘Sunstroke’ (2008 to date) and ‘Louis Vuitton. Journey: Ekaterinburg’ (2012).

The story of the young artist’s collaboration with the world famous fashion company began in 2011, when Olga was invited to shoot backstage. Inspired by the initial project, the Russian representatives of Louis Vuitton suggested that Olga create a fashion series in which the main ‘protagonists" were the luxury brand’s accessories and the city of Ekaterinburg. The severe black and white images, in which Olga Izakson references Alexander Rodchenko, emphasise the connection between fashion and architecture and are composed using a purity of line and volume typical of Russian Constructivism of the 1920s and 1930s.

‘Sunstroke’ was initiated before Olga became a fashion photographer and marked the beginning of her professional career. She began work on the series in 2008 and it is ongoing. Rarefied, sun-baked air and sharp contrasting shadows define the architectonics of these photos, where, at times, the silhouettes of sun worshippers are pushed to the periphery. This compositional technique creates the aesthetic of the shot, which is made furtively, ‘without taking aim’, the image of a photographervoyeur. At the same time it relays the somnambulistic state of the people who find themselves in front of the lens, and of the photographer who is spying on them.