& Harshini J.Karunaratne
For the Aurorae Exhibition, Elizaveta Bogachova and Harshini J. Karunaratne present a collaborative work inspired by Elizaveta’s Ephemeral Reveries Through the Alchemy of Queerness performed by Chelsea Dix. Ephemeral Reveries Through the Alchemy of Queerness is a safe space for those who exist beyond the heteronormative framework.Photographer Bogachova employs photography as a methodology of protest. Inspired by the aesthetics of Old Hollywood, this series uplifts queer and non-binary artists and performers, reclaiming visual narratives that have historically excluded them. Through a process that challenges power dynamics, Bogachova captures the fluidity and complexity of queer identity, honouring those often marginalized. As a queer artist and Ukrainian refugee of mixed origins, Bogachova rejects traditional hierarchies between photographer and subject. Instead, their work embraces tenderness and sensitivity, redefining photography as a collaborative and intimate act.
“It was all the freaks who didn’t have a place in the world because they were too gay or too Black or too brown or too Asian or too woman or too poor or not enough of and too much of all of those things.” — Joshua Chambers-Letson, After the Party: A Manifesto for Queer of Color Life (NYU Press, 2018): 207. Harshini J. Karunaratne is a Sri Lankan-Peruvian artist and curator working at the intersections of film, theatre and technology. They completed their udnergradutae education at New York University Abu Dhabi in 2018, and later pursued a Master’s in New Media Design after relocating to Berlin in 2021.
Harshini has performed and exhibited work around the world and is the co-founder and lead curator for MANIFEST:IO, the symposium for new media and electronic art.