Explore the latest photographs from the Voice x PhotoVogue NFT Residency collection
We’re in our third week of drops from the Voice x PhotoVogue NFT Residency collection, and the art continues to inspire. This week we have photos that take us through journeys of self-discovery, investigate AI’s definition of perfection, and reconnect with history. Learn more about each of these artists and collect their work while it’s still available.
Andrea Baioni is a fashion photographer and 3D artist based between Milan and Johannesburg. A key element of his work is representation. After spending most of his early photography days in Milan working on editorials and campaigns, he began working more and more on the African continent, in order to properly understand and showcase African fashion and culture.
Andrea’s NFT collection, Visions of Perfection, is a series of hybrid photography / AI artworks that explores the growing quest for the perfect representation of the self through social media. The project investigates whether this phenomenon can impact what AI considers to be perfection. What does bias look like in an AI generated image?
Priysha Rajvanshi is a photographer born in India and currently based in London, pursuing a master’s in photography at the RCA. She understands photography as a powerful medium that can bring change to the very forefront of our lives. Using this language that can reach across borders, she tells a story of balance, presence and sustenance.
Priysha’s NFT collection, Identity, explores the implications of motherhood and how it impacts the lives, dreams, and identities of women in Indian families. Working with family archives, Priysha covered the faces of the mothers with a Bindi — an act the artist said was done ‘almost instinctively’. Was she hiding or revealing?
Elianel Clinton is a portrait and documentary photographer, based in New Jersey. His work focuses primarily on the subjects of identity and diversity informed by his own multicultural background. As Eli continues building his practice, he works towards reaching other culturally diverse people around the world, pushing gender boundaries, and informing the upcoming generations that it’s okay to be different.
Brotherhood & Sisterhood exists at the intersection between sexual orientation and race. The project creates an atmosphere of love and support in order to combat the discrimination and social prejudice that POC and the LGBTQ community face. His subjects are all siblings, a choice Elianel made in order to highlight shared experiences that unite people despite their differences. With this project, Elianel is speaking to his community: to the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, or cousins who have disowned their own flesh and blood for being a part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Nelson Morales has dedicated himself completely to photography since 2008 and has studied at various educational programs for contemporary photography in Mexico. His work focuses mainly on issues of gender, body, identity, and sexual diversity. “Photography has taught me to overcome my fears and raise my voice to express my emotions and thoughts and also somehow open the minds of the people who see my work.”
Nelson utilized his entrance into the NFT space as a way to reconnect with his roots and explore distant memories. He was inspired to explore these concepts by a feeling of distance and alienation from his origins. He wanted to remedy these uncomfortable feelings by returning to the places of his youth, remembering those who are gone and will not return, and re-enlivening those spaces with the objects belonging to his loved ones.
Born in Manipur, India, Suraj Nongmaithem is a fashion photographer whose work interrogates the boundaries of youth culture, gender identity, and social traditions. Memories play an important role in the development of his stories, and his recent work explores the beautiful cultures of north-east India and the changing construct of masculinity among Indian youth.
His NFT collection in particular showcases women from northeast India expressing their personal style through clothes and traditional jewelry, highlighting their individual strength and identity. In the face of discrimination, these women challenge the status quo and remain true to themselves.
Lee-Ann Olwage, born in 1986 in Durban, is a visual storyteller from South Africa. Her work is all about identity, collaboration, and celebration. She is interested in using the medium of photography as a mode of co-creation and celebration.
Lee-Ann’s NFT collection explores the ways in which communities use spaces, especially in the context of celebrations. She spent time observing these events at the Arderne Gardens in Cape Town and capturing them with her camera. What is unique about Arderne Gardens is that it once functioned as a private garden for use by the owner and his family during colonial times in South Africa. Today, it is one of Cape Town’s most beloved public gardens and the celebrations that take place there reflect the rich cultural diversity of South Africa. The private has become public.
Yom Omer takes photos because he has an observant personality that instinctively pays attention to details. His camera empowers him to move beyond the limits of his introverted nature. Most of his inspiration comes from simply living and going outside. At the core of his work are real life situations and people, which he captures with a documentary and portrait approach. When he ventures out to shoot, he goes in search of things that elicit an emotional response. Anything that moves him is worth capturing — most of the time, this tends to be mundane things that people often overlook. There’s a very personal aspect to Yom’s work. You can learn quite a lot about him from looking at it.
Supranav Dash was brought up in Kolkata, India. His work examines ideas of identity, gender, sexuality, displacement, race, the caste-class struggle within the global socio-economic and political landscape. Dash tends to take up long-term personal documentary projects to highlight the inequalities and imbalances in our society. Empowerment, visibility and inclusivity are his main goals when he is working with a marginalized community.
His NFT collection, Quarantine Still Lifes (2020–21), is the result of Supranav’s confinement during the COVID 19 lockdowns. Unable to photograph the Queer community, he decided to use props meant for his photoshoots to queer the still-life space instead.
Mariana Pacho López is an Argentinian visual artist majorly focused on photography and video arts. The principal focus of her artworks are women’s bodies, feminism, and gender — all of which are highlighted by the erotism and intimacy within Mariana’s imagery. Analog photography plays a significant role in her photographic techniques and reflects her true artistic nature. Nowadays, her major interest lies in the field of fashion photography. As a part of her credo, Mariana considers politics to be an important and integral part of her artistic agenda. She uses her practice to combat gender and classist stereotypes and fights for lesbian rights through her media production.
The Voice x PhotoVogue NFT Residency collections are dropping throughout the months of October and November. The artists were selected from the broader PhotoVogue community and hail from 29 countries around the world. They produced works surrounding the theme of equity & justice. You can collect their works with a credit card via Voice.com.
