The Art of Photography Show Presents

Natalie Dybisz is a fine-art photographer based in London, UK. Self-taught in photography, her passion began with creating high-impact, often surreal self-portraits as 'Miss Aniela', Natalie's alter ego and the subject of her self-portraiture. First noticed through the internet (Miss Aniela currently has five and a half million views on Flickr), her work now sells as limited-edition fine art and is exhibited worldwide.

In her talk, Miss Aniela will be speaking about the various factors that intersect through the modern circumstances in which her work exists: the role that the internet, the digital age, her gender, and her repeated use of self-portraiture have played in the popularity of her images. Miss Aniela also discusses the place of 'meaning' and criticism in art, how the internet and the digital age have reshaped the roles of artist and gallery, and shifted notions of 'fine art' and 'commercial' in the contemporary photography scene as we know it.

Miss Aniela's self-portraiture began with spontaneous impulses to shoot portraits 'starring' herself with improvised lighting and simple set-ups. Her work has been compared to the work of Francesca Woodman and Sam Taylor-Wood, and the comparisons to Cindy Sherman are also obvious. However, Miss Aniela constantly seeks to explore and remix her multifarious inspirations to contextualise herself into different imagined narratives, intended as both personal and universal. She takes her inspiration from a variety of sources: from dreams and childhood, to literature and Dutch paintings.

The work she will be presenting: Her 'Self-Gazing' series uniquely brings together self-portraits from various series of the artist's five years of work. A number of the images are related to Miss Aniela's 'Tricks' series (The Smothering, Sprung, The Adrenalin), looking at the neurotic behaviour and symptoms of instability concerned with the anxiety syndrome. The series 'Multiplicity' (Their Evening Banter, They Gathered to See) are composited 'group shots' made up purely of the photographer herself - challenging the conventional relationship between 'looker' and 'looked-at'.

'The Smothering' is currently exhibited in the Art of Photography Show, chosen from nearly 14,000 entries by Natasha Egan, the Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.


Directions to the Lyceum Theatre Gallery: www.artofphotographyshow.com/lyceum.html

Parking: Park at the Horton Plaza parking structure and receive a 3 hour validation.

For more information, contact the Producer: Steven Churchill
Email: steven@artofphotographyshow.com
Phone: 619-825-5575