Anastasia at home
In her new ongoing project, Anastasia at Home, Diana Cortés Bassas, a Spanish photographer, explores the notion of emotions young people deal with. The personal struggle with heavy feelings and interpretation of life occurrences is suggested through the prism of a young adult. What might seem like an exaggeration to the older generation in this story is invited to be viewed without any preconceptions.
Anastasia, the character, though alone in her apartment, processing the day’s occurrences and their meaning, is not alone on set. The viewer feels the presence of someone, suggested by the eye connection the model creates, reminding us that we are never alone in anything we deal with. Diana speaks about her project and explains her interest in younger people’s struggles, “It's a moment that defines you and will define you for the rest of your life. You feel it in a more intense way, everything affects you, and life becomes a bit of a rollercoaster.”
‘Adolescence is a delicate moment for most people, and it's a subject that has always interested me on all artistic levels: cinema, painting, photography.’
Adolescence is a delicate moment for most people, and it's a subject that has always interested me on all artistic levels: cinema, painting, photography... I always end up consuming art projects that speak of this specific moment. It's a moment that defines you and will define you for the rest of your life. You feel it in a more intense way, everything affects you, and life becomes a bit of a rollercoaster.
Anastasia at Home is a starting point for an ongoing project I’m working on. It talks about adolescence, being young and insecure, being sad about everything, and not understanding your environment and the people that surround you. I’ve always loved photographing young people as I empathize with the struggles that they have because I had a pretty rough adolescence.
‘My objective is to capture a feeling, a state of mind that you have when you are young and confused.’
I decided to start this project because I wanted to share my experience with other girls that are that age and try to find a meeting point. I would love to get closer to them with my camera and photograph them in an intimate environment such as a bedroom. My objective is to capture a feeling, a state of mind that you have when you are young and confused. I think that photographing these girls in their bedroom can be very representative of the feeling that I wanted to capture: being at a young age, sad, and wanting to hide from the world most of the time. I would like to create a conversation through the camera and the girls I photograph in this project.
Anastasia is the first one whom I decided to photograph. I know her from a session we did a few months ago, and I wrote to ask her if she wanted to be part of the project. She really liked it, so we met and talked about the project and then we took some pictures. That was one of the best things about doing this project — just being with her in the room, talking a bit, and taking pictures. That intimate environment helped to get the look and mood I wanted for this project.
‘From the beginning, I wanted a delicate and soft look for the project. We shot all the photos in one bedroom, and I intend to keep doing that for the whole project.’
From the beginning, I wanted a delicate and soft look for the project. We shot all the photos in one bedroom, and I intend to keep doing that for the whole project and with other girls. A room with a bed, soft natural light, and a lamp are the main things that are present in the pictures, apart from Anastasia. I dressed her in some pajamas with no makeup on just to be more comfortable, to be on a more intimate level. I took all the pictures in analog, with soft natural light, and with one lamp in the room (in a couple of photos).
