Erika Tal-Shir | Fantasy World
Finalist at the International Open Call Competition. A collaboration of Florence Biennale, Art Market Magazine, and Lens Magazine.
Tal-Shir seduces the viewer into a world of fantasy, of transgressing into historical periods, but which are tinted with the awareness of present times. The portraits are captured, not solely to depict her subject, but to add a plus value to the whole scene, often by transference to the photographer’s identity or her inner world, upon the subject, and by doing so, she creates a piece of art that is more than just a mere portrait.
Erika Tal-Shir
Erika Tal-Shir (born 1966 Antwerp, Belgium) is a portrait and fine art photographer who, in recent years, lives and works in Ra’anana, Israel, with her family.
She tries to apply a poetical and often metaphorical language in her work, and by doing so, Tal-Shir seduces the viewer into a world of fantasy, of transgressing into historical periods, but which are tinted with the awareness of present times. The portraits are captured, not solely to depict her subject, but to add a plus value to the whole scene, often by transference to the photographer’s identity or her inner world, upon the subject, and by doing so, she creates a piece of art that is more than just a mere portrait.
It is as if she creates a way that will lead the viewer into the essence of the artist herself, a secret passage that will lead to understanding a hidden world only approachable by those who know the secret language of creation and imagination.
You will find in her work the nineteenth-century tradition’s influence, in which an ideal of “fulfilled absence” was seen as the pinnacle. Her portraits appear as images in which fiction and reality meet, well-known tropes merge, meanings shift, past and present fuse. The passage of time and memory always play a key role, and often human traits or social critique come to the surface.
By emphasizing aesthetics, she wants to amplify the curiosity and intrigue of the spectator. In doing so, she is creating portraits that generate a tranquil and poetic environment that leaves traces and balances on the edge of recognition and alienation.
From children to young girls or young women, her figures’ choices are a conscious way to express her support in strengthening the feminine identity in a patriarchal world.
Tal-Shir’s works can be classified as part of the new romantic movement, because of her desire for the local, the mundane, in the unfolding globalized world, as part of the collective memory. She creates her own vision within her world of imagination, often rising from the need to keep innocence, faith, and beauty alive and explore those same aspects. Her work is strongly influenced by the Old Flemish and Dutch Masters, proof of her Flemish roots.
Erika’s work has been awarded by several international photographic associations, and she achieved the level of Associate Photographer with Sue Bryce Education. Her work has been published in several magazines, including in past publications of Lens Magazine and Art Market Magazine. Two of her more notable projects, “The Seeker” and “Interfaceable,” have been on display by PPA in 2020 at the Imaging USA and published in the “Loan Collection” book by Marathon Press.
Erika is the founder of Beam Collective, Israel.
