Nikhail Asnani is a director/writer and light painter and mainly known his films Flu, Something Round and his one man shows such as My Boyfriend the Boogeyman.
His accomplishments range from festivals screenings all around the world to placing in top screenplay competitions, winning the Big Apple Film Festival one year. Nikhail works for Valdoro Entertainment where he is developing a feature script. His work has also screened in galleries in Europe as well as being nominated for best art photography at the Paris Art and Movie Awards.
My collection of images are actually two different collections. The ‘Feelings Will Hurt Me’ collection is about how we remain vulnerable, physically and mentally. When I performed and photographed this work I was in the mindset of longing to experience more friendships but also explore my romantic side in the LGBT community a little bit more. It’s a mixture of naughty and nice, of trying to be the perfect person, with poise and class but also deep down wanting to rebel and show an exciting side. It so happens that these contradictory personality traits tend to get me involved with the wrong men, that always end up hurting me disastrously. Feelings will hurt me is about my fear of having feelings, whether innocent or romantic, and how I doubt they would ever be reciprocated because of being too vulnerable, insecure or just the difficulty in my mind to believe acceptance is reachable.
The second collection are a series of photos going off the ‘Feelings Will Hurt Me’ titled ‘Reclamation’. These photos are about reclaiming our voice, the feeling as an artist, we get stripped away layers of ourselves to put into our work but our layers are stripped by other people, and you go through this process of evolution trying to once again find a way to stand on that voice that put you where you are today.
Reclaiming the voice is a collection of photos – combined from various separate collections that are trying to say I am soft, I am strong, my voice goes up and down, sexual to non sexual, it is a moment, fleeting and coming, my voice is unique it is me, not matter what others say. It is an expression of how others try to tell you who you are or dictate parts of your life, in a sense it’s a way for me to explore my individuality and take a stand against others that believe my voice should be suppressed or put down because of a difference in opinion or the work not being up to certain standards. It relates to how people feed off you for energy and sometimes their entertainment, and you can feel a little horizontal, as its hard to stand up, and what I want to say with these photos is ‘hear me out’. Sometimes it’s difficult when you’re too passive and people look at you for what you possess outside that which is in your heart. I wanted to show a delicate but also strength when it comes to wanting to be heard by your community. [Official Website]
