NIKUNJA PERFORMANCE PHOTOGRAPHY
To create photographs from performances is a unique art, as it condenses the content of the performance into the timeless form of the instant and thus sublimeses the filmed or live performance. This condensation is an act in itself and needs another or further direction and awareness of the performer or model: In Nikunja's case, in his close collaboration with Mauritian artist performer and model MANNEE, this leads to photographic sessions, staged after or separate from the actual performance, being filmed or being live.
Besides the scenery (studio, room, nature), landscape and the objects present in the picture, arranged between chaos and order, the bodily appearance and expressions come out of the act, underlined by the spontaneous and sometimes trashy or also very directed light structure and the way the photos are taken.
In accordance with his movie creations and other art works, to evaluate the interactive energy as matter of “the in-between” , the space between spaces, Nikunja often uses superposition, composition of focus and blur (e.g. Industrial photos) to bring into tension oppositions of content or value as of history and present, inside view - outside view, public and intimate spaces, landscape and psychic expression, to enable the spectator a perception of the multilayered reality in the present and to allow an encompassing intuitive reading of the precise content.
The staged performances, elaborated with a model, a performer or volunteering participants in a certain context, e.g. research on the dreamworld (Xanadu Project, ongoing), on migration, on méttisage (Xanadu: The Bastard's Dream, 2015) on the origin of culture (Nama feature movie, 2008), Nikunja develops from and with the personality and the awareness of the performer, as a movie director would elaborate a specific role and aspects of it with the chosen actor. Thus in a very short time, it is possible to achieve an intimate creative process which enables a concentrated and meaningful expression and content.