The Visual Poetry of Laura Makabresku’s Nude Photographs

Laura Makabresku is a contemporary Polish photographer whose work I have been admiring for almost a decade. There is always a poetic and melancholy feeling to her photographs, no matter the subject. There has been a recent shift in her work towards poetic depictions of nature, and scenes that merge fairy tales with Surrealism, but my favorite photographs that Makabresku made are the erotic ones, mostly captured between 2011 and 2015. These photographs often feature Makabresku herself, her now husband, and people close to her and perhaps that is the reason behind the intimate, deeply personal and vulnerable mood of the photographs.

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Stark Contrasts

Makabresku’s photographs are intimate and she often captures her subjects in natural or subdued settings, with minimal styling and stark contrasts. This approach brings the focus on the body and the body is a vessel for the story that she is trying to tell us. When seen all together Makabresku’s photographs seem like a visual poetry, like a window into the interior of a young woman’s mind. Each photographs invites the viewer into a wistful, quiet, contemplative space where the boundaries between the subject’s internal reality and the outside world are blurred. The nudity here isn’t presented merely as a means of provocation, but as a way of expressing vulnerability and introspection.

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Dark Fairy-Tale

The first thing one might notice in Makabresku’s photographs is how often the nude woman is captured alongside an animal, whether it’s a dog, fawn, swan, raven, or butterflies. This connection between a beautiful naked body of a woman and an animal is sexual at times, but it also hints at the interconnectedness of all living things. When you look at Fig.4. and Fig.5. the woman and the fawn seem so natural together, so pure and innocent. Fig.3. and Fig.15. seem like scenes from some strange, dark fairy-tale.

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A gallery of Laura Makabresku's work can be found on her site.

Click HERE for the truthful sensuality as shot by the Italian photographer Piero Toffano

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