News: 2019-08-27 - Marcus Duran

Hello again! Thank you for checking in!

You might have noticed a few new press shot popping up?! You have not? Check the Gallery for a couple.

They are all from a photoshoot I did with the wonderful photographer Marcus Duran.
We spoke about my album '3', our lives and music over several weeks and then went into the photo studio together mid this year. We had in mind to create some press shots for my album, but to mainly capture Marcus' visual response to the issues and concerns in my music. He created some beautiful imagery to accompany my album release and those photos were the foundation for exhibtion of these Marcus' artistic responsesand and listening party for my album. The exhibition and listening party was one day only; on my instagram you can see some of the photos and I have also posted my favourite one here; The Chair. If we repeat the event I will let you know, please sign up to my newsletter to stay in the loop.

This is a short statement from him, speaking about the nature of his collaborative piece: 

“The human voice is the most primary, social and spiritual of musical instruments and on ‘3’ it literally creates a basis for the whole musical experience. In our hyper-modern world, burdened as it is with 'content' and constant distractions, Alev’s deeply personal sonic experience offers a contemplative and refreshing alternative. 

The songs on ‘3’, which are bound by the intimacy of her voice and her own rich choral arrangements as sung by Roomful of Teeth, simultaneously conjure a primal, almost prayer-like sensibility, yet manage to address the insidious nature of patriarchal oppression and the subsequent heartbreak and disorientation that comes in its wake. 

In my photography I am trying to explore my own personal response to the tension and beauty I hear in this wonderful music; a place where our inner-voice is at its most solitary, personal, yet simultaneously connecting with complex external environments.” 

As you can see, COLOR was a huge theme as well and is a strong part of the images, the stunning make up was created by Susana Mota, whom I had the pleasure working with a second and third time since then. More soon!

The inspiration behind these bursts of color where watercolor artworks I had made while writing the album, which ended up become the covers of the singles 'May The Angels' and 'The Chair' and the album itself -> check the music section - and were also exhibited at the same event.

And I had a few words for those too:

"I made many watercolor pictures while I was pregnant, I found it calming as I didn’t put pressure on myself, which can happen when I make music professionally, so I continued to paint after I had become a mother too. It became a great outlet for feelings I couldn’t yet place through language. It was a beautiful yet very difficult time in my life, but it wouldn’t have been beautiful without the difficulties. It was a great time of confusion and discovery. I was happy, yet sad - I was grateful , yet terribly disappointed – I was erupting in color, yet also still captive. I think, looking back, that is what I painted. The inside of my life.”

These will be shown again, sign up and you'll hear about it first!

Thanks for reading!
xx
Alev

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