Bronze in Portraiture/Self-Portrait / 2026 / Portraiture / Self-Portrait

• Prize
  Bronze in Portraiture/Self-Portrait
• Photographer
  Dina Belenko, United States
• Date of Photograph
  23/11/2025
• Studio
  Dina Belenko Photography
• Instagram
  https://www.instagram.com/dinabelenko/

This self-portrait draws on the idea of a biblically accurate angel — a being that exists beyond human scale, logic, and perception. Angels are often described as frightening, becsuse they cannot be fully understood or placed into familiar human categories.

The figure appears dark and opaque, while the light comes from within. This darkness speaks to the parts of ourselves that remain unreachable: an inner territory that remains unseen and unnamed. Identity here is suggested through concealment and fragmentation, through light leaking from inside the form rather than being presented on the s

Dina Belenko is a still life photographer whose work explores the emotional and symbolic weight of ordinary objects: how mundane things — broken porcelain, scattered leaves, found keepsakes — can hold complex emotions and reflect human experience.