Image Cities

Anastasia Samoylova takes us on a journey through those metropolises whose degree of global interdependence has been rated very high by the "Globalization and World Cities Research Network". We find them in a process of transformation, hidden behind illusory facades onto which the promises of the future are projected. It would be tempting to read these Image Cities as a polemic against the triumph of consumerism, whose generic visual codes are changing everything that once felt local. Samoylova's photographs are masterful reminiscences of urban photography: human figures dwarfed by giant billboards, moving seemingly indifferently through the urban space, their fragmented silhouettes reflected collage-like in the shop windows. Samoylova deliberately plays with these clichés, deconstructing and recomposing them on a higher level that eludes overly simple statements. Instead, she invites us to reflect on the role of photography itself in creating a gap between the staged brand identity of cities and their everyday reality.

Raised in Moscow, ANASTASIA SAMOYLOVA (*1984) has lived in the US since 2008. Her works explore the field of tension between the materialistic staging of reality and a reality that is both threatened and menacing. In her highly acclaimed series Flood Zones and Floridas, she combines collage-like excerpts with the genre of a disturbing photographic road trip. She lives and works in Miami.

‍