"I want to connect with the viewers through my art, let them know that they are not alone and inspire them to look deeper into themselves and further investigate the behavior that harms them. I aim to empower them to start healing their old wounds and allow themselves to be reborn from the ashes of their past selves."
Emanuela Nesko is a fine art photographer and visual artist currently living in Germany. Utilizing self-portraiture, each image is unique in its interpretation and expression to creative storytelling. In INTROSPECTIVE JOURNEY (October 16 - November 16, 2023) - Emanuela Nesko's debut Online Solo Exhibition with Self Portraits On Fire - personalized themes and perspectives are explored via the duality and surreality of emotion.
The artist places herself in familiar, yet enigmatic scenes or spaces. Sometimes her face is masked. Or her figure is obscured. At other times, everyday objects are placed or presented in surreal or uncanny ways. Together, the self and the setting create a broader narrative for healing and self-reflection.
Nesko explores human emotion and the human psyche with visual depth, insight, and clarity. Themes, such as unresolved childhood traumas that live in the past as memories and disrupt daily living in the present moment, are conduits to raising awareness for positive mental health practices. Old emotional wounds (e.g. doubt, fear, failure, worthlessness, depression, etc.) that hinder emotional development throughout childhood and adulthood, is another introspective theme that is a shared, common, and natural part of the human experience. Nesko's thought-out depictions offer viewers a heightened sense of awareness - that past pain can bring joyous and transformative healing into the present.
The intangibility of deep-rooted emotions are pulled apart and put back together again through a new way of seeing. Ultimately, this creates a sense of connection for viewers to discover their own inner illumination, enlightenment, and expansion. This sense of connection also allows viewers to learn that they have the power to create their own inner reality that reflects how they want to feel, think, and live in the outside world. While Nesko's images are personal to the artist, the messages embedded in them create broader connections with others, thus, creating a series of introspective journeys.
"My work is based on my personal experiences with childhood trauma and its effects on the quality of our lives if we don’t embark on a healing journey. Through my art, I want to raise awareness about mental health, the importance of attention to bodily sensations, and how various emotions and triggers are processed. The themes I explore, among others, are feelings of fear and unworthiness during interactions with others, which most often mirror our early interactions with adults who mishandled or unvalidated us."
"I create predominantly self-portraiture images placed in a surreal and moody environment. The surreal worlds I develop are a form of escapism from reality to safely process challenging situations like abandonment and bullying. To bring these painful thoughts to life, I sometimes use dark and rusty colors to symbolize overwhelming introspections and depression. In some images, I introduce textures to give the environment a feel of decay as a reflection of the degradation of the human being after years of suffering. The surreal elements help to emphasize the story in a more absurd way, making it sometimes more digestible and other times hard to look at and, therefore, memorable."
"I strongly believe that it is important to understand why we sometimes feel emotions that overwhelm us and stop us from following our intuition. Fear of speaking up for ourselves, people-pleasing, fear of failing, and so much more are mostly wounds developed in childhood. It is learned behavior that keeps us safe as we grow up in an unsafe environment. We might learn that some feelings are wrong, so we subconsciously practice suppressing them..."
—> CONNECT WITH EMANUELA NESKO:
Instagram: @emanuelanesko
Website: www.emanuelanesko.com
Contact: Please contact Emanuela to purchase fine art prints of her work, and for purchasing details! Sales price and print sizes for works range from:
- 24x32 cm and 24x36 cm (350€)
- 40x60cm and 45x60cm (700€)
- Some works are listed for sale as NFTs
- To see a full list of works for sale, view the INTROSPECTIVE JOURNEY Online Solo Exhibition!
—> SUBMIT TO THE GALLERY'S OPEN CALLS!
Happy Creating!
Danielle Rackowski - Founder, Curator, & Gallery Director of Self-Portraits On Fire