/ 2025 / Fine Art / Abstract

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Varvara Shishkina, Kazakhstan
• Instagram
  https://www.instagram.com/sheriff_shish?igsh=bW5mbnZkOGx1ZGo0&utm_source=qr

This is a self-portrait where my friend’s face becomes something else — part biological architecture, part silence.

I painted a castle across her mouth, sealed with black moustaches. The moustache, placed like a stamp, refers to cultural codes of masculinity and authority — a visual gag, a forced silence.

The castle itself represents unfulfilled dreams and emotional restraint.

This work speaks about the right to dream, to express, to build. Our castles in the air should not be crossed out by someone else’s voice. We should not be afraid to create or to speak.

I’m Varvara, a photographer and visual artist from Kazakhstan. My work is a way of talking when words fall short. I explore themes like emotional silence, identity, and the invisible lines drawn between how we feel and how we’re expected to appear.