ALIEN TOUCH

What does lack of touch do the body? During these troubled times I have suddenly found myself in a time where I have been thrust into intense isolation because I live alone and a pandemic has materialized out of the blue. The craving for touch I have experienced has sometimes been extreme. When I have my "social distancing" dates and we want to share a hug, we each hug ourselves in a show of affection, and not each other, something which would have seemed absurd a mere few months ago.  Automatic reactions I still have, like picking up something someone dropped at the grocery store, are suddenly fraught with danger. Something so innate to humans is suddenly wrong, taboo, dangerous and to be avoided. In this series of self portraits I wish to show how outlandish touch has become by morphing the body and hands into something still recognizable, yet grotesque and alien at the same time.

Iva Janiga

Iva Janiga is a photographer and videographer based in Edmonton, Canada. Passionate about street photography and videography, she has a love for capturing spontaneous detail and reportage through these mediums. She has lived on three continents and speaks 5 languages with various degrees of ability. Iva studied Comparative literature at the University of Alberta, and filmmaking at both the Film and Video Arts Society of Alberta and the Galiano Island Film and Television School. Her art is influenced by her extensive travel including extended stays in Japan and Barcelona where she sought out all manner of visual art, design, and architecture.