Elvira Akzigitova is a self-taught, photo-based analogue artist and printmaker. With consistent dedication, she seeks to expand the horizons of photographic vision. The artist’s handcrafted optical themes feature alternative, abstract, and introspective pictures, decisively moving away from humanist documentary photography. With admiration for process, Elvira employs various analogue methods to build up images and add new layers of meaning to her work. She works with expired light-sensitive materials and light as a tool. Each vintage film and paper she uses has taught her new ways of seeing, compelling her to develop unique methods of processing and printing. This approach not only enhances her artistic practice but also serves as a form of recycling and a defiance of the notion that great photographers and printmakers should play it safe.
During her residency at TYPA Centre, Elvira worked extensively in both darkroom and printmaking studios, experimenting with the reproduction camera, photo etching technique, and paper. The motifs and light designs were exposed multiple times through the repro machine on large sheets of film and later manipulated in the darkroom. Abstracted impressions were then transferred to a UV-sensitive intaglio plate and subsequently etched onto fine art paper and passed through a printing press. Selected pieces underwent alterations with placing color and multi-layering techniques. Through the incorporation of chine collé, a la poupée, embossment, and repurposed materials Elvira elaborated on her images, giving each art print an authentic quality.
Her series on view at TYPA, “Sun sans Body,” is an exploration of light as a shaping, natural, and sensual force. These abstractions, initiated in the photographic darkroom and later developed in the printing studio, transcend specific origins or fixed scenes. Like the sun projecting its rays onto any receptive surface, light—and its absence—acts as an invisible agent in shaping these works. What emerges is not merely an image but the selected traces of exposure, imprinted onto paper as a record of a temporal condition.
Elvira was our artist in residence in September-October this year!
You can learn more about her and her work on her website: https://elvira-akzigitova.com