MILA NESTEROVA

BIOLUMINESCENCE EXHIBITION by MILA NESTEROVA
September – October 2011

‘On stage everything is exaggerated and lighting enhances the visual aspect of the performance, adding color and depth. I am fascinated by UV lights and how they transform everything into a dazzling explosion of colour. Everything looks more interesting, and fascinating shadows and flickers of light give objects and people more depth’ – Mila Nesterova

The Book Club is pleased to invite you to a very special exhibition launch from talented photographer, Mila Nesterova who will be exhibiting a series of large-scale fashion and still life prints and light boxes.

Presented in two parts, BIOLUMINESCENCE is a powerful and exhilarating study of experimental ultraviolet lighting effects. It includes fashion and still life images, the latter being shown for the very first time. Taking from what the French call ecrire avec la lumiere translated as writing with the light, Mila Nesterova calls herself an ‘explorer of light’.

Part 1: BIOLUMINESCENCE Fashion
Originally conceived as a fashion story, BIOLUMINESCENCE has brought together a myriad of ideas. From a childhood spent on stage and backstage touring with her mother’s ballet school, Mila has been profoundly inspired by theatrical costumes, stage lighting and the extravagant enthusiasm of Russian ballet. Drawing on this, and her mother’s artistic spirit for inspiration, Mila set out to create a magical kaleidoscope of colours, textures and hidden meanings.

In nature bioluminescent organisms glow to attract others or to protect against predators. Mila’s surreal characters do just that – attract attention while at the same time hide their true identities under vibrant make up and clothing.  Showcasing avant-garde fashion designers such as Bernard Wilhelm, Pam Hogg, Andrew Logan, Craig Lawrence, Holly Fulton, Manish Arora, Kokon to Zai and Jeremy Scott, Mila’s world in BIOLUMINESCENCE has a surreal dreamlike quality with a slightly sinister edge. Not everything in the dark is what it seems…

Part 2: BIOLUMINESCENCE Nature
Applying her lighting experiments and newfound photography technique, Mila takes the concept of nature mortes to the extreme in the second part of the exhibition. In her new work, market produce is magnified tenfold and highlighted with UV lighting until it looks zombie-like, surreal and almost radioactive – a far cry from what nature has created.

Presented as a critique of contemporary lifestyle, it shows creatures such as shellfish and vegetables outside their natural surroundings, dazed and confused in modern neon lit world. Here, ginger takes on strange, human like forms and shellfish look like high-fashion stars on the cover of the latest style bible. Mila makes a tongue-in-cheek statement about the zombie-like reality in which we rely heavily on modern technology and are often pre-occupied with the pursuit of fame, money, status and artificial beauty.