lael reiss

Lives and works in London, UK

Artist statement

For the past five years, I have been focusing on body photography and photographing objects, that simulate the body and skin. I am interested in exploring and searching for the delicate boundary between the vulnerability of the soul against itself and the external world, and its ability to merge and disappear within it. The skin is a vital part of this question for me; it acts as a barrier between the body and the external environment, simultaneously absorbing both, the void of the soul from within the body and the changes in the surrounding environment in which it exists. Within my photographic work, I combine sculptural work and the use of different materials while appropriating them to my body. I use staged and treated photography to create new objects that simulate the body for me. My creative process is intuitive and playful; I examine states of matter and textures of materials in order to successfully convey the bodily feeling of the soul. To take what is familiar to me, my body, and transfer it to another dimension; to turn it into a canvas, a pillow, a rigid form or an elastic one. Through acts of disruption, I aim to express that sense of inner estrangement.

Artwork