the turquoise ether magazine’s mission is to publish independent critical reviews of promising artists from over The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

Turquoise #3 — Kamila Banks (Dagestan, Russia)

Kamila Banks was born in Moscow, at the age of 11 Kamila moves to secondary school in the south of England. At the age of 18, she enrolls at the University of the Arts, London to study Photography as Contemporary Art.

Since 2019, Kamila has been living and working in Dagestan (southern Russia).

Kamila is perhaps one of the leading photographers at the moment in this republic, observing and capturing the contemporary paradigm of the region in its redefinitions and powerful cultural influences and shifts. Thanks to her British education, she masterfully takes an exploratory approach to her work. Her lens captures the people, the look of the cities, the Soviet legacy preserved in places, and the extraordinary landscape of the entire Republic. Her work is both nostalgic and ironic, while maintaining absolute sincerity and the importance of the elusive moment. One of Kamila’s most outstanding and popular works is her depiction of the Soviet architectural monument Anji Bazar (now demolished) — it is for this very piece that Kamila received the Collective East Photography Award 2022 in the field of photography.

The direction of her work creates paradoxically polar cultural intersections between London and Makhachkala, her two favorite cities.

Anji Bazar is the absolute embodiment of a bygone era and a lost, unappreciated culture. During the Soviet era, the building was the city’s central market, and the center of attraction for residents from all over the Republic. In 2015, the building was demolished by city officials to build a high-rise apartment complex. Banks managed to capture the unique architectural structure as it was being dismantled.

The photographer’s work can not be attributed to any particular genre.

At the moment the main focus of Kamila“s photography is concentrated on architecture and portraits. The artist”s goal is to redefine the understanding of the classical portrait with an attempt to reveal the non-obvious psychology of the protagonist. The subject of a portrait can be either a person or an architectural structure — as the pinnacle of a human statement.

In her work Kamila often uses references to the fine art of Dagestan and Soviet memorabilia, her work reflects a synthesis of different techniques and subtle references to social and national identities.

In her youth, Kamila spent a lot of time at the “National Gallery” in London and was influenced by the light of many artists (Rubens in particular), and the unique color solutions of the Impressionists.

Kamila shoots all of her projects on film, she uses the analog process of photography with zeal and reverence and plans to explore analog techniques more deeply, focusing her field of study entirely on film photography.

The next stage in her work, scheduled for the summer of 2022, is a photo book dedicated to the young Caucasian generation, an attempt to capture their portrait. People who grew up in an environment of devaluing their culture, but have figured out how to get back to their roots. A project about a generation in which she sees infinite potential and texture. A project that encompasses the entire history of her Caucasian period.