Marina Tsaregorodtseva is a Fine Art Still life and Portrait Photographer who lives and works in London, United Kingdom. She was born in Vologda, Russia in 1978. She completed a degree in accounting and finance in 2000. Moved to the UK in 2009. Moving to another country had a huge impact on her life: loneliness, inability to share experiences, and impressions with close family kind of forced her to restrain personal feelings. This is how she came to photography a few years ago. Photography became the way of splashing out emotions through abstract and still life: “a vision can come from a sight, a memory, a feeling, it always turns into a path, breaching out through the core of our certitudes”.
Her artistic object arrangements intrigue, engage or entertain the viewer.
Self-taught or art school?
Largely, I’m self-taught. As many people do, I started taking photos for my own pleasure but in 2020 I quit an office job in finance and had completed a training course with the Russian photographer Yulia Artemyeva and it transformed me: photography and still life, in particular, became my choice of expression.
If you could own one work of art what would it be?
Let me think. It would definitely be a piece of abstract art. This form of art gives you the freedom to explore the artwork and assign your own meaning to the piece. No two people are going to have the same experience.
You know what? It would be the ‘Small Dream in Red’ by W. Kandinsky. My acquaintance with his work and the genre started with this painting.
How would you describe your style?
I’d like to think that it’s surprising, playful, and a bit provocative. I enjoy experimenting with and rearranging colours, lines, and shapes to create images.
Can you tell us about your artistic process?
Usually, I have a starting point, an idea about the elements I’m going to use, and what background I’d like, but I could end up with a completely different arrangement. It’s an intuitive process. I could spend an hour arranging the ‘scene’ and then only one click at the end to take the photograph.
Is narrative important within your work?
I believe every still-life photograph is a story. It’s like an essay or a kind of self-portrait. Even if you look at it as the reflection of your thoughts and emotions. But first I create an image, then figure out what it means to me.
Who are your favourite artists and why?
Claude Monet, René Magritte, Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miro, Mikhail Vrubel… I discover new artists every day. The power of colour and shapes fascinate me as well as the artists’ rebellious ideas.
What or who inspires your art?
I get inspired by whatever makes me feel something: music, nature, museums, time with friends, family memories. There is a quote from René Magritte that opened up a whole new world to me and it’s always on my mind: “Too often we tend to reduce what is strange to what is familiar. I intend to restore the familiar to the strange.”
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
My studio is my kitchen, so I have to be pretty organised and careful to distinguish between what is for cooking and what is for photo-shoot. Joking. Shooting always comes first. I have boxes with dry tree branches, leaves, and stones. I always bring something from my countryside walks that might be of use in the future, and since these “mights” are multiplying – my partner recently created a rule: when one new item comes in – one old one goes out! We always laugh about it. But if be serious – it also means that every still life photograph is unique.
Do you have any studio rituals?
On the day of a photoshoot, first I tidy up the room. Then I organise things and remove anything negative, dancing sometimes… Moving my body gets my brain ready to think and thus begins the visualisation process. Then, accompanied by my playlist, I start assembling things that I’ve created in my mind.
What are you working on currently?
It’s a personal project: still life forms with interesting stories behind them. I may even create a photobook. I went to visit my family in Russia in autumn last year but due to COVID restrictions, I was unable to return to the UK where I have resided for the last 11 years. So, my short visit was extended to almost 6 months! I became the Coronavirus Cuckoo child. My project is about that time.
Where can we buy your art?
Please contact me on instagram @oh_marfuta and my website is coming soon.
