Eylül Aslan
Puella Aeterna
The power of women; who can deny that? Eylül Aslan’s talent is profound enough to capture the beauty of the concept, transporting us to a world where inferiority is non-existent.
Your pictures have an “other-worldly, mystical” approach. How is your process when you create your series? Do you work off a theme or does your work lead you in a certain direction?
Sometimes when I get an idea, I note it to the little notebook I carry with me. Sometimes I see something during the shoot and decide to go for that. I don’t have a certain preference when I work, what and when I photograph depends on when I get inspired. I used to be more spontenious during my first years, however recently, I’ve been working on themes. However since the subjects that grab my attention are similar, the results end up being connected.
Can you tell us about Puella Aeterna?
This series is from 2014, the models in the photographs are me and a firend of mine. I took her pictures for a long time, she was an important inspiration for me. This series features our interaction. My friendship with her was hard to categorize, I guess the photographs depict our story. Intensity, friendship, wanting but not having one another, curiosity, fear, love, passion…
Most of your work had two women involved. How is your relationship to women considering this art form?
Women have always been a source of inspiration in history as well; their beauty, mystery, being chosen due to esthetics have always been likely and I guess this is still, and will be the case… One of the main reasons for this was because most artists were males, and naturally they picked women they desired as sources of inspiration. I believe that love is the most important thing when it comes to inspiration. I don’t think something ot someone that you don’t love can be photographed.
Also when I first started taking pictures, I used my cousin and I as models and continued photographing women out of habit I guess. I guess the interaction between two women grabbed my attention. It is way different than two men interacting. For example, two men don’t watch TV hugging one another, however women do that. I experienced this in my own life. I was interested in women to understand and define myself as well I guess.
“My friendship with her was hard to categorize, I guess the photographs depict our story.”
If you were to create your own fiction story for your life, how would it be?
The life I’m living right now used to be some sort of fiction for me years ago, however now it’s my reality and I don’t think I would change anything about it, everything turned out to be even better than what I imagined.
Mirrors have all sorts of reflections, symbols. From opening you up to a different reality to reflecting one as their true self, what are your opinions on mirrors?
I like the fact that they portray something I find beautiful not once, but twice.
What would you want your last photograph to be of?
I guess I don’t want my last photograph to be my last photograph. I wish I could continualy take pictures and never die… Maybe I love photography because pictures never die!