HAUS DIGITAL

Dasha Nedykhalova: Stay Metal

Dasha Nedykhalova is a London based photographer originally from Moscow.

She started out studying illustration and quickly evolved to working mostly with photos: experimenting with film development and handmade pinhole cameras. She is currently working as an assistant on shoots for a European fashion photographer featured in ID magazine. Her work is an extension of her own aesthetic: looking at her photos is like looking at a snapshot of her mind. We meet in her flat high up in an Aldgate tower block. The flat is minimal, with white walls and has views spanning the vast greyness of outer London, all under the large skies opened up when one leaves the streets and ventures up above. There are two mustard yellow 60’s armchairs parallel to each other, a drum kit and rainbow illustrations on the walls.  We take her little dog for a walk in the neighbouring East London urban landscape, and go to Brick lane for coffee and pints and cigarettes to pick up some Technicolor knitted jumper clothes in a flea market and to chat about her practice.

You said in your latest installation piece at the Biscuit factory you were exploring the “conflict of the decadence in the Soviet atmosphere and the modernity of the characters that enter the space.” Could you elaborate?
I wanted to capture how the young girls interact with the space, and with each other. My aim was to picture real Russia.
Do you find that your time in London interspersed with Moscow helps keep your ideas lively and fresh?
My ideas don’t really have to do anything with staying in either London or Moscow they just come, whenever I see something special.

I have heard that art school in Moscow is very classical in its training, is this so?

Yeah it’s true a student would get taught how to sculpt and paint, but it’s not about the ideas, it is about perfecting the existing techniques.
What kind of cameras do you like to use?
I like to use film cameras and positive film. I like to experiment. I am building my own camera at the moment.

Is it true the girls and boys are prettier in Moscow than London?
I like girls in Moscow, boys in London are prettier.
How does the fashion differ in Moscow to London? Do you think this is a cultural legacy?
Street fashion is not that different; in Moscow people dress more neat.

Are you interested in exploring fashion photography?
Yes, to me a fashion photograph is a very complicated image created not only using means of cameras and lighting, etc. It has a lot to do with the model the interaction between a model and photographer, between the model and the space. So I want to develop my work further and the main thing I am aiming is to create natural imagery and develop my ideas further away from making a photograph, into film and performance for example. This was the reason for me to build an installation. From my point of view the best photographs are the ones a viewer can engage with.

Who are your favourite photographers?
Guy Bourdin, for all he did to fashion photography.
Is your work mainly aesthetic or has it got theory and symbolism included within it?
It does not have any theory behind it. I come up with an idea usually and build some kind of scenario for the shoot, because I am very interested in film. I usually have a person I want to photograph in my mind, then I look for a location and chose it so it goes together with the idea. I guess it’s a very normal approach to creating work, but generally that is how I put a shoot together.

How difficult is it for young art graduates to get recognised in the contemporary scene?
I have only started; I think it depends on hard work and personality a lot. I mean there is nothing impossible.

What is the current contemporary scene like in Moscow? How does it compare to that in London?
I am not very sure of what is going on in Moscow at the moment, I haven’t visited for a while, but there are a lot of things going on I really like films and music that come from Russia these days. There are a lot of gifted people there.

What is the best piece of advice anyone has ever given to you?
Stay metal

For more information or to contact Dasha, please see her website www.dashalove.com or email her on me@dashalove.com.
Interview by Lowenna Waters, Arts Editor.