Vanity Fair UK - 11.2019

Through her surreally sensual images of women, artist Aida Emelyanova

constructs a photographic dialogue that’s impossible to ignore

places the female subject at the

empowered centre of each opulent,

highly stylised scene once again—

though this time she has used models.

“Previously, it was very important

for me to portray the subject matter

myself,” she says, “but this time I

decided to take it to the next level by

using dierent women with dierent

stories. The casting was so important. I

could tell immediately when somebody

was perfect for a particular shot.”

This skill of observation serves as a

source of inspiration for Emelyanova.

ida Emelyanova

is softly spoken.

Her celebrated

photography speaks

in a bold, vivid tongue, but the artist

herself—striking, angular and radiant

—seems rather more reserved. On the

subject of her latest undertaking, a

photography exhibition entitled I Do

Whatever You Humans Do, however,

Emelyanova found the more assured

voice I had expected. “I have no

interest in merely making pretty,

aesthetically pleasing images,”

says the London-based Kazakh-

Russian artist. “I want to bring out

women’s power and strength—our

warrior strength—and show that we

no longer have to follow old rules or

conform to stereotypes.”

This is a theme to which Emelyanova

is returning. Her 2015 exhibition I Do

Whatever You Animals Do explored

the objecti‰cation of women in a

striking and surreal series of tableaux,

featuring the artist herself as the

subject. Provocative and sometimes

controversial, her latest collection

Body

LANGUAGE

Words by JESSICA BURRELL

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