Work
Backstage
Backstage and Mixtures are three performance scenes.
In my photography, sculpture and installations I create props and environments that operate at the edges of objects and view points, taking the traditional elements of visual capture - a camera and a tripod - and working with them as individual parts of an atmosphere and gaze. The fragile and voyeuristic elements of these installations with the spreading silk and contained, denser twill fabric, veneer, plywood, stones, and immersive rooms cut into with my body, create a flow of quiet and more emotional moments that sink their teeth deeper into the surface of the scenes.
The prints are scaled, assembled and adhered to plywood, foam core, and veneer. The approximate height of the props varies from 16 inch models to 60 inch panels. The edges of all shapes, plywood panels, wooden substrates, and foam core cutouts are determined by the outlines of my body.
Backstage, 2026
Archival pigment prints,
plywood, granite, recycled satin
60x96 inches
Archival pigment prints,
plywood, granite, recycled satin
60x96 inches
Backstage, detail, 2026
Archival pigment prints
plywood, granite, recycled satin
60x96 inches
Archival pigment prints
plywood, granite, recycled satin
60x96 inches
Mixtures
To create the images I set up the camera, tripod, lighting and reflectors, react and pose. In the studio the photographs are translated into prints, cutouts, and free standing props.
In the props, the juxtaposition of the environments is pointing to my orientation to the scene.
In my installations I see the parts of myself that can stay visible and compartmentalize others into fractions. In the projects Backstage and Mixtures the goal is to break myself into pieces, and the irony of coming apart in this way was the creation of an emotional outline to describe a precarious past and a longing for self-possession.
Mixtures of the Pieces of Me, detail,
2026
- Archival pigment print, plywood, veneer
- 24x30x24 inches
- Mixtures, 2026
- Archival pigment print, plywood, twill, veneer
- Installation dimensions variable
- Mixtures, detail, 2026
- Archival pigment print, plywood, twill, veneer
- Installation dimensions variable
Date: 2022
Artists: Leyla Rzayeva and Hanne Lange
Medium: Photography, Installation
Materials: archival pigment prints
Dimensions: 6x9 inches and 9x12 inches
Artists Hanne Lange’s and Leyla Rzayeva’s collaborative work completed in Dresden, Germany. In the installation about home, memory and metaphor, Leyla Rzayeva and Hanne Lange are stepping into a new affinity that takes time and space. Asking questions about how to understand hospitality, immigration and availability of materials and resources during the times of global change. A photograph of the original work is displayed together with a series of postcards and posters. The images in the postcards were chosen by the artists from their collaboration and individual art practice. Each viewer can take part in the installation - take the postcards and then form new combinations in their own home or send them by post.
Date: 2021
Artist: Leyla Rzayeva
Medium: Textile, Installation
Materials: cotton fabric, acrylic paint and silk
Dimensions: 48x18 inches / 120x45 cm
Interpreting the floral patterns of Azerbaijn and Soviet textiles, the painted roses on a yellow background are displayed with silk roving arranged at the top corners of the work. The silk roving at the corners of the work can be moved with each installation.