KATRINA GREKOF

Katrina Grekof, currently living and working in Moscow, Russia, has been working as a portrait photographer since 2001, switching from film to digital in 2004. She shoots almost exclusively in her home studio, and has in the past been commissioned by two Russian rock bands (Repentance and The Unholy Guests) to produce portraits of the members for their albums. Grekof’s had an exhibition of 50 of her works in a gallery in Moscow, but beyond that she is, unfortunately, largely unknown. Grekof prefers to work with friends rather than professional models, and often creates the costumes and does the make-up herself. When it comes to creating a character for a photo shoot, entrusting someone else to create just the right look for the model could potentially backfire, and so I suspect that Grekof’s control over every aspect of the set up of the shoot is in order to keep her characters looking exactly as she envisaged them.

Daemon Of A Christmas Night, Katrina Grekof, 2004.
Daemon Of A Christmas Night haunts me. The black, soulless eyes, the ghostly pale skin, the painted lips. They all stayed with me a long time after I saw this photo for the first time. It reminds me somewhat of India; perhaps it’s the dark hair and peacock feathers. But this is a different kind of India, one that’s inhabited by phantoms, banshees, wandering horrors, instead of people.
Of course, it’s not the costume alone that contributes to the atmosphere of this photo, although it is, evidently, a huge help. The plain background, somewhat a trademark feature in Katrina Grekof’s work, serves to highlight the model’s face, as opposed to engulfing it. Any detail in it would’ve taken away from the detail of the makeup and the feathers, and also perhaps taken away from the phantom feel to this photo. Any kind of detailed background might’ve revealed the photo for what it is; a woman, in make-up, wearing feathers, posing. Instead, the plain background means it could’ve been taken anywhere, at any time, by anyone, in any situation. It adds to the mystery a great deal. Just like with the light reflected in the eyes (and, to some extent, how the light falls across the face, hair and shoulder); it could be the light of the moon, or a streetlamp.
While the light on the face is very even and would likely give away that it is really just a model in a studio, that’s something that you can easily overlook, it doesn’t take away from the photo in any way, because it’s such a powerful image. I think that this image defines completely how Katrina Grekof works, and how her work is so very similar, yet also very different, to that of Floria Sigismondi. It has everything I think is characteristic of a Katrina Grekof photo- a reserved pose, still features, almost complete lack of movement, clean lines, definite shadows and highlights, and an almost vulnerable and fairy tale-like quality, which makes the fact that the subject matter is very alien-looking all the more disturbing.
I’ve often wondered about how Grekof came up with the idea for this photo. Perhaps it did just come to her one day out of nowhere, but it looks to me to be too planned and to fit too well together to be a random idea. Maybe it was partially inspired by India, and that’s where I got the Indian feel from. If it was, it’s definitely one take on India that I have never seen before.

Muse Of Baudlair, Katrina Grekof, 2008.
Muse Of Baudlair is quite a new photo from Katrina Grekof. It’s both terrifying and beautiful at the same time; a cracked and dirty skull, long and sharp fingernails, pitch black eyes, smooth skin, and long, soft eyelashes. Katrina Grekof normally only uses photo editing software very sparingly, if she uses it at all, so this photo is quite a departure from the norm in that sense, although as far as the subject matter is concerned, it’s a classic Grekof shot.
The rough, ragged skull and its close proximity to the smooth, unblemished skin of the model is quite unnerving, and brings up a lot of questions about the subject. Is she drinking from the skull? Is it a mask? There’s blood around the eye sockets- did she just kill someone to get it? Is she dead? “A picture’s worth a thousand words” has been over-used a lot, but this photo really does speak volumes. It’s like a whole story contained in one picture, which is quite a feat seeing as Grekof has managed to tell this story using only one person, and not even all of her face, let alone her body, and no props besides the skull, barely even any colour. This story is contained within the reflection in the eyes, the cracks and blood around the eye sockets, the eyelashes not quite brushing her skin, the arch of the eyebrows, and it’s a dark and disturbing tale. To invoke such a feeling with so little, that is something special indeed.
The text crossing the image may in fact be a story, but it’s hard to read and perhaps it’s better that way. Judging from the image, I’m not sure I would even want to know what the story might entail. I can’t help but think that perhaps the photo would look better without the text; best to let the viewers’ imaginations run wild with theories behind the origins of the image than potentially write those origins across it, and so risk either removing the mystery behind it, or disgusting the viewers beyond all reason, and I suspect the story behind this would be a least a little perturbing. Perhaps it’s the same woman from Daemon Of A Christmas Night; maybe she gave herself over to the dark powers completely.
I often look at this photo and feel like it follows on from Daemon Of A Christmas Night, even though there’s a fair amount of time between the taking of the two images, Daemon… having been shot in 2001, and Muse Of Baudlair having been shot this year in 2008. Perhaps Grekof was reviewing her old work and was suddenly inspired by her old pictures, or maybe it was just a spur of the moment shoot and just happened to link back to the other image. It’s quite low-key in terms of physical detail; the blood on the eyesockets could’ve been added in afterwards along with the text and the design on the model’s forehead, and even the eyelashes, although they look very real, could easily have been edited in. Grekof does tend to pride herself on the things in her images being real*, however, so I suspect with this photo it was a case of a little dramatic makeup, an old skull, lots of shadow, and minimal post-production.
One of the reasons I like Grekof’s work so much is because much of it is left untouched by Photoshop, and if it is altered in any way, it’s only a little, to deepen shadows or add a soft pattern to the otherwise plain background. Sometimes, like in the case of
Muse Of Baudlair
, more obvious manipulation can enhance and improve a photo, but in general I prefer it when photos are left to speak for themselves, and not hidden behind digital scribbles.

*One fine example of this that I feel I have to mention is a self-portrait, Wagner’s Bride, taken in 2004, where Grekof has beads and flowers suspended from needles, which are pierced through the skin of her forehead.