Zuzu Valla
Zuzu Valla is based in Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom.
Originally from Slovakia, at the age of 38, she is on the verge of defining her very own and recognizable signature photography style, exploring multiple layers of distinct human beauty.
Zuzu has exhibited her work in Paris and Iran last year and she is planning more exhibitions in the UK and Paris in 2020.
Zuzu was brought up in a traditional Slovak family, growing up in the last years of strong communism regime and social transformation of Slovakia (formerly Czechoslovakia).
Her father was a multiple boxing champion of Czechoslovakia while her mother was a housewife raising three children in a small town.
Zuzu’s grandfather was a keen amateur photographer shooting in black and white, while her grandmother had been using special painting method to colour his photographs.
Zuzu started her interest in photography almost by accident in her late 20s. After being disappointed by using a mobile phone camera, she reached for her first DSLR camera and has never looked back.
Photography has become her passion.
Zuzu is excited about capturing the moments where beauty, sadness and mystery come together, creating her unique visual signature.
What Zuzu says about her work:
“For me the main driver of my photography is my own melancholic personality, which i try to keep hidden in public.
This is reflected in the subdued, subtle and tender atmosphere of my favourite pictures. I want to celebrate womanhood and the less obvious aspects of feminine beauty, the calm between the smiles.
I have a special fascination with photographing the female back, allowing the posture and body language to tell its own story. In my pictures, the face is often unseen or only partially visible, meaning the observer can only guess the mood of the subject.
I like catching the atmosphere of a moment which will never happen again, where beauty and softness meets pain and sadness.”
If you wanna see more of her work you can do so on Instagram
@zuzu.valla
and on her website
Freak, out!