Born in Bucharest but living in Barcelona, Joana Nenu’s highly contrasted photographs have an almost effervescent quality to them. She shares with us her Six of the Best.
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For Joana, photography has always been an ongoing journey. It started 16 years ago as a space where she could find refuge from everything happening around her, but then later shifted towards enabling her to have a different understanding of the world. As much as in the beginning it was an escape, it ended in realising she couldn’t separate these two worlds, that photography was offering her the tools to visually represent her own perception of what was already there. They were one and the same.
Deep down it’s about by merging these two into creating something new, a more poetic way of perceiving reality. The colours play a key role in creating this new space, and contribute to the dream-like feeling where time stands still, alongside the dance of the light and the shadow.
“This was taken at Llum festival, a festival for light art where one neighbourhood in Barcelona is decorated with amazing light installations by artists. This specific one had something very different about it, it was about its calmness and what was behind these curtains, almost inviting you in, taking you someplace else. It reminded me of a novel that I grew up with, written by Mircea Eliade, where the main character visiting the house of gypsies becomes detached from the physical world and began his descent into transcendental.”
“This one has a special place in my heart. It was taken on a very warm day in the south of Spain. The photo itself represents a journey, of wandering and looking for signs, of reassurance. The appearance of the palm tree was a promise of a new beginning in that very moment, a reference point I very much was looking for internally. Almost like the north star, showing me the way.”
“At first glance, this seems like a very simple capture, but actually it’s composed of a lot of different and complex elements. It was taken at the Alcazar Palace in Sevilla. For me, the garden and everything that was outside was way more interesting. It was a very hot afternoon, somehow the heat blurred the day, exactly like in the photo. It’s not easy to understand where this is happening. It might look like a door, leaving space for the interpretation on where the character is heading but in reality this is a mirror reflection. Everything is actually happening behind the image. We might think we’re seeing the shadow of the main character walking, but it’s really just another person walking. I believe this is what’s so magical about it. It can be perceived as a reflection on what is real and what is imagined and it can have so many interpretations.”
“Unlike the previous one, this photo puts us in a special place, giving the feeling that we have a seat in the first row of the ‘stage’.The illuminated path on which the character is walking provides a feeling of wonder, of open questions about the place he’s heading to. It felt like I was witnessing the prologue of a holy moment.”
“During my travels in Portugal I had the chance to see the westernmost point of Europe called Cabo da Roca. As the sky and the ocean were meeting at the horizon, there was a peaceful feeling spread all over the surface of these rocks. It was the perfect timing, witnessing these seconds before the day would slowly fade away at the end of the horizon, making space for the night to slowly let its shadows dance.”
“Another photo illustrating the stillness of time, only that this one is happening in Paris, giving the impression of a time loop, with no beginning nor end. The colours are meant to transpose the viewer in a cinematic script.”
