Artist name: Alex Blanco

Nominated by: Erik Vroons (Chief editor, GUP)

Country: Ukraine

Edition: 1 of 1

Collection

Introducing 'Ones To Watch 2021' - the first drop from Art3.io, a brand new platform bringing the best lens-based art to the metaverse. For the first time, exclusively on OpenSea, Art3 presents a curated selection of 80 works from 16 emerging artists tipped to be among the greatest fine art photographers of tomorrow. The works will be sold as unique NFT editions of one, with exclusive unlockable content for collectors.

Unlockable content with purchase of this NFT

High resolution file

[First time buyer only] Single-use right to archive quality physical print (printed & delivered free of charge)

Invitation to exclusive virtual meeting with the artist

Project statement

'Meat, Fish and Aubergine Caviar' is a project about my parents' life in Odesa, Ukraine. The city on the Black Sea coast has everything in abundance: fish, sun, exposed flesh and of course... delicious aubergine caviar.

However, my own life in Odesa wasn’t a bed of roses. My parents were depressed and emotionally distant. The only connection between the members of our family was to eat together at the dinner table. I left Odesa to live abroad at an early age and had to go back in 2016 to take care of my father due to a serious health condition. In the project, with the help of the camera, I juxtapose traumas of the past with regrets of the present. I create a utopian universe where my parents live up to their expectations and I, as their daughter, enjoy the image of an illusionary home where hot meat croquettes, delicious fish pancakes and scrumptious aubergine caviar come together on the table in a form of redemption of the past actions.

Artist statement

Interested in creating deeply personal, most of the time, uncomfortable for the viewer projects, Blanco makes sure that each of her series resonates with her past memories and directly interacts with her present experiences. Her photography projects are highly intuitive and self-reflective.

https://www.alexandrablanco.com