Childhood Lost by Justyna Neryng

Childhood Lost is an ongoing autobiographycal project (self portrait in a different body) exploring the nature of portraiture and memory.

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Born in Chelmsko1981, Poland, Justyna Neryng spent much of her childhood playing with her father’s cameras and dark room while roaming the forests of Chelmsko on the Czech boarder.

As an adult, a mother and an immigrant to Britain, her photography has flourished into a substantial body of portraiture.Perhaps the most evocative of her works are her exquisitely emotive self-portraits that seem to carry the dark spirit of the forest from her childhood as well as potently baring the scares of modern womanhood.

They show vulnerability and intimate eroticism as well as a deep sense of isolation and alienation .It is these portraits that have been most published and exhibited in both in her polish homeland and in the UK. More recently Justyna has begun to collaborate with her daughter Nell, on a project called Childhood Lost. Justyna currently produces her works in her adopted hometown of Brighton and Hove , where she lives with her daughter.

Childhood Lost I 40x40

Childhood Lost II 40x40 Childhood Lost III 40x40 Childhood Lost IV 40x40

About Childhood Lost

Childhood Lost is an ongoing autobiographycal project (self portrait in a different body) exploring the nature of portraiture and memory. As a single mother I have found myself exploring notions and representations of childhood. I see my daughter’s experiences of growing up in urban England conflicting with my own experiences of growing up in rural Poland.

I must confess that my own childhood is not a source of many happy memories, perhaps the most resonant of which are the times I escaped to a world of fantasy played out in the forests surrounding my home village of Chelmsko. Watching my daughter grow up has in a sense held a mirror to my own memories of the past while experiencing her childhood dreams enacted through play, and story telling. I find myself in a strange place where I can experience my own memories as well as see my daughter’s childhood through my adult eyes.
It is these notions I am seeking to explore with the Childhood Lost project. Interweaving childhood nostalgia with the stories and myths of my Polish childhood and those that I share with my essentially British daughter. The project is using these ideas to produce a series of portraits that evoke characters that populate this world we know as childhood. A court of characters from myth and dreams. The images are aesthetically inspired by portraiture from the Golden Age of Dutch painting. By drawing on paintings as inspiration I am hoping to give a timeless feel to the final images. Also key to the project is also the painstaking styling and prop building, which I am using to evoke these different persona played out by my daughter.
I want to develop the series in to a substantial set of portraits of my daughter playing the characters of childhood, as well as producing more elaborate set pieces embracing a theatricality that would take the project to the next level. Subject to funding it would also be a dream of mine to be able to revisit the forests of my own childhood and produce work there.

Childhood Lost IX 40x40 Childhood Lost V 40x40 Childhood Lost VI 40x40 Childhood Lost VII 40x40 Childhood Lost VIII 40x40 Childhood Lost X 40x40 Childhood Lost XI 40x40 Childhood Lost XII 40x40 Childhood Lost XIV 40x40 Childhood LostXIII 40x40

One comment

  • Janssens serge

    Feb 15, 2014 at 14:55

    Originalité et orchestration de ton travail About talentueux . de plus une direction artistique de tes jeunes modèle en parfaite osmose avec le concept que tu à imaginer . Félicitation ! Serge Janssens

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Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted. This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation.
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
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