Biographie
Born in 1978, Sandrine Elberg studied at the Beaux Arts de Paris, graduating in 2003, since which she has been a practicing photographer. Winner of both the FNAC and Nikon competitions in 2008 and the Canon–Le Monde de l’Image prize in 2009, her work has been shown at Voies Off (Arles), Jeonju-Photofestival (S. Korea), and ManifestO (Toulouse). Sandrine Elberg has a special relationship with Russia, a country where she lived as a visiting artist, and where her work has been shown on a number of occasions, notably at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art during the 8th Photobiennale Moscow/Paris
Présentation
Sandrine Elberg’s photographic work mixes a quest for personal identity with more formal exploration. Here, wearing the mask of Shakumi, a young girl from the Nô theatre, she takes on the persona of Yuki-Onna, inviting us to indulge in fantasy and contemplation. Yuki-Onna is a character from Japanese folklore: the Snow Woman. She is a Yokaï, a spirit or phantom which appears at night in the regions of heavy snowfall. She is described in various ways, sometimes as an immense figure, sometimes as the incarnation of a snowy landscape. She is the personification of winter, in particular the snowstorms. Yuki-Onna represents the duality of winter: from her smooth, cold beauty is born the cruelty of tempests.
Sandrine Elberg intermingles digital photography with photograms and chimigrams. An important part of her work is realised on the printed image itself.