Kyoto Florentis

 KYOTO FLORENTIS, 2025/2026

In my visual storytelling, the concept of fullness and emptiness is of paramount importance, as it aims to sensitively evoke the essence of my narrative. Between the spaces filled with seasonal herbs and flowers, empty areas emerge, overlapping with a photographic image of a maiko met in Kyoto on a special occasion. This figure represents one of the most authentic symbols of Japanese tradition, a living cultural heritage. Full and empty intertwine in a symbiotic relationship, seeking a balance that seems to dance in space. The essence of the tale reveals to each person an almost invisible and hidden part of the narrative. It is as if what one perceives when observing the art work is not immediately evident, but manifests itself later, enriching and completing the authenticity of my pictorial story.

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Being always fascinated by Oriental art, Elenashirin draws inspiration for her art works from cultural diversity and from her various trips. Elenashirin has travelled for many years following a specific approach. Her artistic expression addresses a personal search focussed on highlighting the interpersonal relationships between people, with an eye wide open onto the feminine side. Metamorphosis, development and the many changes encountered by mankind, particularly by women, are topics at the core of her art projects.

Painting and photography are her favourite media to express her sentiments towards the universality of our human feelings. In her portraits transformation, change and the use of symbols evoke ancient writings, traditions and signs. Through the use of mixed media, such as water based colours, lacquers and various antiquing treatments, alternated by scratches and superimpositions the artist experiences new paths, merging painting with photography, crossing the boundaries between the two disciplines. Elenashirin has also worked with the traditional technique used in the earliest hand coloured photographs of the 19th Century, applying shades of colour by hand on black and white carbon prints, following the same formula used more than 120 years ago by the first colourists.