Cristina Schek

Diving Upwards

2022

Cristina Schek is the ‘photo-sensitive’ kind. She thinks in pictures; her imagination is always in focus. A Transylvanian living in London, she creates conceptual portraits exploring identity and the nature of representation using literature, films, and art history as inspiration. She usually works as her own model and has captured herself in a range of guises and personas which are often whimsical and a touch romantic, employing amusing and impactful visual puns. Completely self-taught in photography and far removed from traditional or documentary styles, the camera is merely a tool for Cristina. Her greatest passion is storytelling and following her curiosity into the unknown, enjoying the freedom of layering and manipulating her photographs into creative montages. She trusts her instinct for matching the raw material with the suggestive imaginings of her subconscious. Her photographs are given subtle alterations in a digital process that often takes months, resulting in carefully constructed compositions, which reveal the influence of the great Surrealists and Old Masters.