The evocative collection “It bugs me” (2022) by rising photographer Tes Berge presents a placing mix of surrealism and intimate reflection. Eclipse, Drift, and Pulse serving as centrepieces, Tes Berge constructs a visible narrative that marries intricate element with profound allegory. Her work stands on the nexus of latest images, inviting comparisons to different rising stars within the inventive world. But, Tes’s distinctive perspective ensures her place within the limelight, with “It bugs me” capturing an distinctive discourse on vulnerability, metamorphosis, and resilience.
Reframing the Acquainted: The Artwork of Subversion
Tes Berge’s method to her topics — bugs, magnified and recontextualised — imbues her images with a duality of discomfort and fascination. The collection serves as an invite to look nearer, not solely on the bodily intricacies of her topics but in addition at their symbolic weight. In Eclipse, as an illustration, the exact rendering of textures and patterns conveys the uncanny fantastic thing about the insect world.
What units Berge other than her contemporaries is her skill to control lighting and composition to imitate a painterly impact. One would possibly recall the works of Maisie Wilton, whose images usually blends the mundane with the extraordinary. But, whereas Wilton’s lens leans into ethereal portraiture, Tes ventures right into a realm of scientific curiosity, drawing parallels with the inquisitive artistry of Carl Warner’s macro explorations. Berge bridges technical precision with a poetic sensibility, making certain her pictures stay extra than simply documentation — they’re acts of storytelling.
Metamorphosis as a Theme of the Occasions
In Drift, the insect’s posture — juxtaposed in opposition to an virtually medical backdrop — echoes themes of fragility. Transformation turns into a recurring motif, not in contrast to the inventive trajectory of Charlotte Marshall, whose sculptural works usually interrogate human frailty. Tes, nevertheless, situates this fragility in a non-human topic, drawing parallels to ecological instability and the vulnerability of lesser-seen species.
Tes Berge’s skill to distil transformation right into a collection of nonetheless frames recollects the precision of Eadweard Muybridge’s movement research, although her execution is distinctively trendy. By leaning into the grotesque, she explores the boundaries of discomfort, forcing the viewers to confront their biases. Her work compels viewers to think about: What does it imply to actually see the ‘different,’ particularly when the opposite exists on the periphery of human consideration?
Tes Berge Amongst Her Friends: A New Vanguard
The rise of Tes Berge comes amid a renaissance in conceptual images, spearheaded by figures comparable to Albie Kavanagh and Eva Moreno. Kavanagh’s exploration of sunshine as an emotional conduit and Moreno’s interrogation of reminiscence by means of blurred landscapes each resonate with audiences looking for depth within the visible medium. Nonetheless, Tes Berge’s area of interest focus — the intersection of the pure and the surreal — permits her to carve a novel area inside this burgeoning group.
By Maria Bregman, author, artwork critic, curator, and cultural producer. She has authored important articles for publications comparable to ELLE,, Esquire, Creativitys.UK, Life Journal London, and London Submit, and curated artwork exhibitions, together with Zurab Tsereteli’s solo exhibitions. As a presenter for CultFM and creator of a cultural undertaking for Tradition TV, she has broadened public engagement with the humanities. Her achievements embrace organising worldwide artwork and music festivals within the UK, Tunisia, Israel, and Russia, serving on the jury for the Vasily Kandinsky Artwork Prize, and the Nationwide Academy of Arts.
