TITLE: Cabinet of Curiosities

These images are selected from a larger portfolio titled Cabinet of Curiosities.
In the fall, trees lose their insect-gnawed leaves. Contorted by the summer sun, they inspired this series of photographs of fantastic insects, animals and demons. This collection of curiosities is a journey into the bizarre — in which pareidolia, and its optical illusions, produce phantasmagorical imagery and hidden messages. I layer imagery to create what the Surrealist, André Breton, called "neglected connections”. These unexpected associations, morph objective reality into subjective reality, challenging the viewer's imagination and beliefs.

Surrealist theory is an underlying theme in my photography. I am attracted to the wonderful and the strange, in nature, man, objects, situations and art. I highlight the extraordinary and the unsettling, as a path to transcending reality. Strangeness, in our environment, as in art, sparks strong feelings of discomfort, anxiety, fascination or wonder. Peculiar details, unusual beauty, surprising relationships between objects and shapes, and quirky situations are fundamental characteristics of my work. These moments and elements awaken our unconscious. I store these treasures in a personal cabinet of curiosities, whose collection helps me understand the world and penetrate the mysteries of the unconscious.

AUTHOR: Emmanuelle Becker FRANCE

Emmanuelle Becker is an artist-photographer living in Paris. She has an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. and a master’s degree in Fine Arts from Pratt Institute in New York. Her photographs have been exhibited in in Europe, the United States and Asia. She is the recipient of multiple awards. In 2020, she was awarded first prize in the 15th edition of the International Pollux Award in the Architecture category, received an Honourable Mention in the "Street Photography - series" category in the 15th edition of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers, an Honourable Mention in the "Conceptual Photography" category of the 2020 edition of the Minimalist Photography Awards, and an Honourable Mention in "Portraits Without Faces”, presented by the PH21 Contemporary Photography Gallery in Budapest. This September, her portfolio, “Cabinet of Curiosities”, was published in The Eye of the Photograph.

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