“Dissolved”: An Immersion in Emotions with Elena Waldorf

During the White Night of the Galleries, we immersed ourselves in emotions at Elena Waldorf‘s second solo show. The exhibition “Dissolved” serves both as a journal of emotions and as an X-ray of the distortion of emotional states through photography and video. Elena Waldorf’s personalized emotional journal consists of a collection of expressions of feelings that the artist captures in others, insofar as these states resonate with her own emotional sensations. For Elena, it is no coincidence that “dissolving” into the universe of others becomes a pretext for rediscovering and understanding her own experiences. This process is embraced by the artist to capture the artificial and deceptive nature of the photographic image.

For Elena, the camera is more than just a tool for representing reality. It becomes an artistic process for manipulating reality and emotions, distorting and creating an apparently new environment from scratch. Thus, photography can be false—a depiction of (pre)fabricated emotions that deceives us, capturing a state that isn’t actually present but, when we view it, we come to relate to it. Whether we’re discussing a more “director-artificial” approach through studio color photography or a more intimate approach conveyed through black-and-white images, Elena Waldorf’s works develop their own narrative, which often no longer aligns with the original atmosphere behind the camera.

The curator of the exhibition is Iolanda Anastasiei, and the event brings together works that are representative of Elena Waldorf’s artistic interests from the past two years. Elena Waldorf (b. 1997) is a graduate of the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca, holding both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in the Photography and Video department. Since her studies and up to the present, Elena has participated in numerous national and international group exhibitions. These include: There is no concept, only my intuition (2022, The Cosmic House, Cluj-Napoca), Slava Ucraina (2022, Reperaj Art Galleries, Oradea), Variation on a Near Future (2021, Atelier 35, Bucharest), Nothing Really Happened (2020, Urania Palace, Cluj-Napoca), 14/3 (2020, group exhibition, Constantin Daicoviciu Street, Cluj-Napoca), Closing Exhibition with 22 Surprise Local Artists (2019, Launloc, Cluj-Napoca), Group Show U.A.D. (2019, Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca), Made in Between East (2018, Poznan Art Week, Poland), Ending Session (2017, Șoimii Patriei, Cluj-Napoca), and (Th)is is Me (2017, Șoimii Patriei, solo exhibition, Cluj-Napoca).

Elena Waldorf‘s preferred artistic mediums are photography, video, installation, and painting. Among the themes explored by the artist are: the distortion of reality through photography or video, the exploration of the intimacy of the human body and personal space, and the embrace of the alter ego. The exhibition Dissolved is an invitation to look beyond the surface and explore the depth of emotions and distorted realities through the artist’s eyes.

Photo Credit: Om cu Om Design