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Photographer: Aliona Kuznetsova
This September San Francisco photographer Aliona Kuznetsova is releasing a new photo book
called Vague Sensations. The photo book will be a result of 12 years of visual research on
complicated emotions. It will include 53 best pictures and several short essays put into stylish
linen-covered coffee-table book signed for you by the artist.
Who is it for?
This book is for people who believe that emotions are the main thing that makes us feel alive. It’s
also for the people who want to have better emotional intelligence and empathy. The book doesn’t
shy away from dark and complex topics, and it’s for people who believe that shedding the light on
your darkness is the only way to true self-love
“Nowadays American society likes to oversimplify emotions replacing them with a limited set of
emojis. In reality what we feel is complex, self-contradictory, sometimes vague. A person can feel
sadness that’s pleasurable, happiness on the edge of despair, or jealousy mixed with admiration.
This is the kind of emotional cocktail that makes us feel alive.”
How and Why?
As a person living with a mood disorder, Aliona always wanted to understand in detail her own
emotional world to leave in peace with it. When she works with a model she tries to establish a
strong bond and dive into a common emotional experience to bring real feeling to the picture. To
support this feeling Aliona masters a broad range of aesthetics which she creates through light,
color, wardrobe, handmade props, location, and post-production of the series.
Background
Aliona is a self-taught photographer who has been published in Vogue Italia, Forbes Romania,
Marie Clair, Elle Swiss Magazine to name a few. Her work has been showcased in New York,
Boston, Lausanne (Switzerland), Athens, and Kyiv, she is a member of the Raw Artists and See.Me
art communities. Recently she also became a lecturer in Kyiv School of Photography as well as the
host of a popular photo community.
“Through all my life – four countries I lived in, dozens of cities I traveled to, a mood disorder I am
battling, meeting and parting with my closest friends – my art has been a silver lining that helped
me day by day to refine the understanding of who I really am “