Anastasia Samoylova (born 1984, Moscow; lives in Miami) moves between observational photography, studio practice and installation. She will present a solo exhibition of her ongoing project FloodZone at USF Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa in January 2020. With over 80 photographs, the book of the project will be published by Steidl in September 2019. In 2018 Samoylova was awarded two grants for FloodZone, the South Arts Fellowship and Michael P. Smith Fund for Documentary Photography. Recent exhibitions include Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; Purdue University, IN; Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, WI; Griffin Museum of Photography, MA; as well as numerous festivals in Brazil, Belgium, France, Israel, Netherlands, China, and South Korea. Samoylova is represented by Julie Saul Gallery in New York.
FloodZone
FloodZone is an expansive photographic project reflecting and responding to the problem of rising sea levels. The project began in Miami in 2016, I moved to the area, my first experience living in a tropical environment. Through daily walks that constitute an essential part of my practice, I began to realize how the city’s seductive tropical palette and quality of light concealed the growing dissonance between its booming real-estate market and the ocean’s encroachment on its shoreline. Ocean views are prized in the real-estate world, with little regard for building projects’ locations in high-risk flood zones. Investors seem to turn a blind eye to the reality that Miami is steadily slipping underwater. Miami Beach, in particular, is a striking case study: the artificial island boasts some of the most luxurious properties, but it is subject to regular flooding. Living in Miami is bittersweet: it looks and feels like a paradise, but the only secure roots belong to mangrove trees.
To view more of Anastasia Samoylova’s work please visit her website.