Ethereal is an Understatement, this is Art: Haris Nukem
These days an iPhone is enough to claim yourself as an Instagram photographer. While I do recognize the effort that these photographers make to express through thoughts through images, I’ve come across an account that has changed the game of Instagram photography. When a photographer truly has a signature style, theme, essence — that is something I haven’t seen in a while and truly is out of this world.
Haris Nukem is a photographer who has the ability to showcase human beings as ethereal beings. Why is this important and kind of scary? Because the fantasy that he creates lets the viewer experience ethereal humans as if when they are photographed by him, they are transformed through his eyes. His ability to be recognizable is enough to have him be a focus of study for future photographers and other types of artists as well.
Nukem sits at 163 thousand Instagram followers and as his bio description says, he is an artist. Doing more than the average photographer does as he’s a videographer, director, and much more.
Let’s take a deep dive into what his work awakens in people’s eyes. In every gritty portrait the images are as gloomy as they are vibrant in colour. A great description would be that of what is on his website “Nukem’s work documents the varied faces of human animalism, capturing moments of heightened freedom- be it through love, friendship, opulence, sex, or celebration.” He is able to capture multiple different emotions including scenes of chaos and indulgence or even triumph. Most of the photos are provocative but the contrasting hues in the editing process create an ethereal essence to the human vessel. A sense of respect and control are coated on all of his provocative work.
When photographers are commissioned by other brands and companies to photograph their work, Nukem’s unique style exudes from his work. It is his ability to capture the intense passion that his personal portfolio presents that captures these other businesses and makes them want to work for him. He sets the photography world a part because he is not a tool for companies to use and ask him to mould into their style, he is an artist that is asked to design his work for them. This is new in the photography realm as usually the do not have the freedom to do this as it seems that capturing photos can be simple.
Nukem is leading a new wave of photographers that are able to capture their own personal panache in their work. This is important because people will seek the artist rather than the photograph.
An example of his work would be when he photographed for the popular luxurious brand, Boy London for their Spring/Summer 2016 collection. The logos and all the Boy London clothes were there in the photos but you could tell the Haris Nukem flair was prominent in the work. This is just one example of the differientiation that Nukem creates with him work.
My personal opinion on why Nukem will continue to gain popularity in the years to come? He creates stories with his content, it’s as if these portraits could all tell different stories within the same universe. His ability to have a unique stylistic brand distinctive from other more famous photographers shows the trend in which photography is moving towards. When looking at Nukem’s work it is evident that this style is original to him.
As the statistics would tell it, 65% of people are visual learners and photography can really grab people and guide them into how they should feel the moment they view the image. Nukem’s work has the potential to not only evoke the emotion that he wants to with his work but also to attach his name to the photos the same why that when someone sees the McDonalds arches, they automatically recognize it with the McDonalds burger franchise.
As viewers are more likely to recognize an image over a text or by listening to something, it is crucial for artists to remind people of who they are without explicitly telling the viewer or through text of who they are. When someone is scrolling through Instagram, they will remember the intense eyes and passionate provocateur nature that Nukem’s images exude over another photographer with a more general style who has their name attached to the image.
I’ll finish off by giving a description from Nukem’s website:
His description describes exactly how his images are presented, Nukem has a clear idea of what his work is and does to his viewers. This being a powerful realization for an artist on social media.
