Inside

“Inside” is a series of surrealistic self-portraits. No post- production tips and tricks were used here – I work only with light and the body. A woman's body is supposed to be beautiful. Nudes have always been a pretty and attractive thing. People I love usually love my body. It is nice, it can be regarded as a sexual object. But it is not the person I am, actually. That’s why one day I began to hate my physical self. I wanted to crush it up. For this series, I used my own body as a clay. I didn’t aim to depict my physical appearance but I wanted to show my inner world in a graphic manner. It’s an eternal conflict between the exterior and the inward. Psychologists, sociologists and philosophers explore the intrapersonal conflict in their work. And I’m exploring it in my photographs.

Maria Pleshkova (b. 1986) is a multidisciplinary artist working in photography, video, and writing. In her work, Pleshkova explores the boundaries of self-portraiture. Her life and her art are inseparably connected: she lives her life through her art, making intimate and self-revealing projects. She explores the Microcosm, the human universe, and certain moments of the highest intensity of life. Pleshkova’s projects are always autobiographical, but the autobiography is just an excuse to talk about things that are universal and common to all humankind.