Kristina Olekshy (@kristinaolekshy) is a photographer based in Montreal, Canada. Her interest in photography started during the first few months of the pandemic when she started exploring the empty streets of her city, which she found as an escape from her tiny apartment. She found herself in a place where she realised that photography is like meditation for her through which she is able to express herself freely.
For her, the past decade aesthetics and cinema have been influential and inspirational for her. She calls herself "the one with a nostalgic heart". She initially started with digital imagery, but now practices more with a 35 mm film camera to reinforce that feeling of nostalgia. In her everyday life or even during her travels, she is always in search of those overlooked moments and hence tries to capture them in a way that reflects her colorful vision of the world.
KRISTINA-PEARL OLEKSHY
© KRISTINA-PEARL OLEKSHY
She wants people to realize that there is beauty in the mundane and that one does not need extraordinary things to enjoy all the beauty that life has to offer. At each of her outings in the streets of Montreal, Kristina Olekshy equips herself with her film camera and watered-down film. Day and night, she immortalized her daily life, sublimated by the grain of images.
"I want my photos to feel timeless, so the viewer focuses and reflects more on the subject than when my photograph was taken."
Olekshy had a chance to photograph the beautiful city of Cartagena in Colombia. Her images are raw and focus importantly and solely on the daily life of the Colombians. With very interesting techniques, she beautifully narrates visuals and draws a story through every photograph, taking the audience through an adventurous ride of the streets in Colombia.
What stands out for us is the color juxtapositions and an eerie mellowness in her compositions. They create a great balance of the colorful life of a South American household.
Kristina's work has been published in many magazines like Artloft Media, Futures Photography, and Fisheye Magazine.