Alexandra Von Fuerst's strong and tender photographs of the female form

Date
28 September 2017

Alexandra Von Fuerst is the Italian-born, London-based photographer whose work focusses on the female body and its perception. “The body in my photographs connects with its surroundings, sometimes towards the limits of its boundaries, reaching into abstraction, other times simply embracing its most human aspect,” says Alexandra. This relationship between subject and space is apparent across her body of work and her latest editorial for Sea No Evil was born out of interest in hair and its texture.

Published in the latest issue of Tush Magazine – a German beauty magazine – entitled Extreme, Sea No Evil is an exploration into the organic form of hair in a surreal environment. Alexandra worked with stylist Laetitia Mannessier, hair stylist Sarah Jo Palmer and makeup artist Megumi Matsuno to create the stylised and succinct story. Featuring a colour palette of blues, whites and browns, the shoot manipulates and arranges the models hair to draw comparisons between the organic nature of the elements displayed and the abstract surrounding created by set designer Hella Keck.

Having been strongly attracted to the visual arts since childhood, Alexandra fell in love with photography after visiting an exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe’s work at the Accademia Gallery in Florence as a teenager. The installations showed his work in relation to classical Michelangelo sculptures, “I was mesmerised by the strong connection between the bodies and space. I started following his work that summer, becoming very passionate about his study of shapes and bodies.” This early influence can definitely be seen in Alexandra’s work which treats the female form with both strength and tenderness depicting it as a sculptural form, often creating parallels between its shape and the shapes found in folds of material or organic matter. These forms are often presented as tight crops meaning the images “deviate from the physical properties and roles of the objects presented, giving a new meaning.”

Alexandra’s work has an aesthetic that flows from one shoot to the next, linking them and creating a visual similarity. Colour palettes of red and blue, mixed with more earthy tones give stories unity whereas the use of material and textures allow the viewer to get closer to the essence of a photograph. “There are certain elements that definitely keep coming up, almost unconsciously, in the work,” says Alexandra. “The details I depict are often born from a curiosity towards science. The relationship between the human subject and space, the natural and artificial elements it relates to, is central to me. I believe there is a strong connection and unity in the world which is created, broken and regenerated in a constant circle.”

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Tush Magazine

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Tush Magazine

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Tush Magazine

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La Monda

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Odiseo Magazine

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Odiseo Magazine

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Vulture

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Vogue Italia

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About the Author

Ruby Boddington

Ruby joined the It’s Nice That team as an editorial assistant in September 2017 after graduating from the Graphic Communication Design course at Central Saint Martins. In April 2018, she became a staff writer and in August 2019, she was made associate editor.

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