We copyrighted the idea in 2012. The concept is simple. We identify emerging creatives, and interesting people who we believe will be captivating to read about. We invite people to interview themselves and to take a selfie. The self-interview with selfie was inspired by an empirical tool specifically for use in memory studies research. Our idea was developed to overcome some of the practical limitations of one-to-one interviews and address a new type of journalism. We ask queer creatives & interesting people to interview themselves. The manner can be through storytelling, diary-keeping, questions, images, sound, or any other meaning of representation. We believe it is interesting what our guests wanna tell people about themselves to avoid intrusion by another person. Today we invited Raul Balica.
16 questions with Raul Balica
What inspires your art?
- Flowers, music and Myself
Is it hard to be an artist?
- When it comes to living from it, it is pretty difficult, but when it comes to creating, you just have to dig deep inside your soul to find your true essence.
Which is your favourite part of the art creation process?
- This might be the evolution of a piece that I’m creating.
What’s one movie that inspires you?
- Enter the Void or Midsommar
One artist that inspires you to create art?
- Robert Mapplethorpe
How would you like your art to be perceived?
- I would like people to feel safe or completely overwhelmed while looking at it.
One word which describes your photography?
- Unapologetic
Analog or Digital?
- Mostly Analog
Photography is the only media that you use to create art?
- Actually, I also do illustration, comics, and zines.
Top three subjects that can be found in your work?
- Beauty, duality and sublime
One person who supported you the most?
- Myself and my mother
What other art form would you like to practice in the future?
- I’m highly invested in doing Drag. I’ve already created my Drag ego/persona.
What is your drag name?
- Gazelle. You can see her in my work/ photographs.
How do you feel when you create your art?
- I feel the most alive like nothing can hold me back.
When did you realize that you want to be an artist?
- I’ve always known somehow that I would like to create something. But when It comes to being an artist, I actually come to the conclusion during the last two years when I completed my first personal project and one of my teachers told me that I have what it takes to be an artist and that maybe I should pursue this. Basically, that was the beginning point. Since then I’m trying to evolve as much as I can.
And the last question, Where would you like to get in the future?
- I would love to be able to show and exhibit my work to a wider audience, to be able to blend my love for drag and art and to create something spectacular and do as much as I can.
“My name is Balica Raul, I am from Romania and currently living in Cluj-Napoca, through my works I aim to reproduce various hypostases of the individual, put in enigmatic scenes, so as to form an idyllic atmosphere. I am often interested in the dream space and the individual’s connection with it, how it comes to affect his subconscious and vice versa, with an emphasis on chromatic contrasts. I am also focusing on portraying the LGBTQ+ community both locally and internationally. The main environment that I work in is Polaroid photography and analogue with image interventions, Photographic Transformations, collages and mixed media.”
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