Entreaty

The quest for universality is also demonstrated in “Entreaty”. Belkina‘s choice here is for the en profile style of portrait as commonly used in the fifteenth century Italian renaissance. The en profile representation can refer in equal measure to both a universal depiction of a person or to a specific individual. Belkina portrays the expectant mother here as both introvert, inward- looking, and as aware of her participation in the overall scheme of things, outward-looking. The tension in this relationship is also reflected in the woman‘s appearance, worldly rather than intimate. The slightly deformed window frame before which she stands appears to confirm this. It subtly disturbs the relationship between the interior and exterior worlds.

Early on Katerina Belkina knew about her exceptional talent to see the world through different eyes. Born in Samara in the southeast of European Russia, she was brought up in an creative atmosphere by her mother, a visual artist. Her education as painter at the Art Academy and from 2000 at the school for Photography of Michael Musorin in Samara gave her the tools to visualize her ideas. Exhibitions of her sublime, mystic self-portraits ensued in Moscow and Paris. In 2007 Katerina Belkina was nominated for the prestigious Kandinsky Prize. Recently she got the Hasselblad Masters Prize.