“Im·pres·sion - Portraits of People"

“Im·pres·sion - portraits of people” is the title of a series of photographs staged and shot by Sashko Manev.

Sashko was born in Skopje, Macedonia, in May 1982 and set his artistic foot on the British soil in the autumn of 2009. A logical venture for someone who is unconventional and yet accessible. Tangible, however, he is not. His mind is always one step ahead, his eyes are everywhere – in an almost aggressive and radioscopic manner. In his project “Im·pres·sion”, Sashko harnesses this exact trait. He takes the obvious by the hand and abducts it into the two-dimensional and timely-limited context of a still picture.

In his Portraits of People Sashko aggregates hard facts as well as the conclusions of his personal perception. He portrays friends, people he knows. He allows us to sneak a peek into his relationships by accentuating one attribute of the portrayed person, as well as the person itself. And he is doing so without getting carried away by artsy ambitions or emotions. His photographs are unpretentious and based on facts. And still, they are personal and suggestive. They are the visual interpretation of respect. Respect derives from the Latin word “respicere”, which means “looking back” and as such clearly indicates distance and consideration. Sashko Manev looks back at the past he shares with his friends, adds a factual hint for alien eyes and freezes them in black and white. The outcome: a potpourri of people. An exhibition of relations.

An Artist's Portrait by Nadja Golbov