It’s not every day that someone with twelve thousand followers will message you out of the blue. This week, I received a message from Albanian visual artist Sirio Berati. Berati is a digital artist whose work is focused on video and portrait photography. He is experienced in 2D and 3D art and works with what he calls “animatographs.” In his words, an animated photograph is still being a frame while adding animations to it with an 8D audio experience for viewers. Besides visual arts, Berati is also a singer. He made his latest release recently, called “Snakes.”
Animatograph Example:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo9kzJbDJg8/
Many of his artworks have an earth-tone theme. This is shown through his “Approaching Chaos” exhibition. This exhibition is five works filled with his experiences of identity and culture that show exploring a complex concept of self-realization. It has a typography use with a five-digital photographic series. The works in these include Descending into the Blue Void, Blue Klein Sea, In the Stormy Skied, and Impeded by Cultural Taboo.
Impeded by Cultural Taboo (One of the 5 works)
Berati said to me this is because he wants viewers to enjoy the juxtaposition of the reality that is being portrayed in the photographs. The whole concept of his exhibition is to show his process of adapting to the world though facing his fears and insecurities during stages of adolescence. Blue represents depression and anxiety, and his works depict a confusing state of being while trying to approach the light in the world.
While developing his project, he was concerned the message wouldn’t go across to viewers. He thought the first, or primary look of the art would be confusing, or a bit more difficult to interpret its purpose. For this reason, he wanted to keep the figure, or subject of the image strongly depicted, while the ground, or background is kept plain for a bolder depth of field. In photography, a depth of field is the space between the subject and camera itself that puts it in the right plane of focus. Therefore, presenting the series was also important to Berati. To make his presentation theme cohesive, most of his works were presented on three panels. For variety, however, he hung two other contemporary-style like canvas that represented the sea from the ceiling, making it a classical display of his art. Berati says he tries his best to create space between the images and audience so that viewers can see the full picture.
Berati has multiple influences for his crafts. Initially, especially for his exhibition, it was influenced by contemporary artist Grayson Perry. His influences, however, changed when he saw how illustrator Iain Macarthur portrayed culture in his works. He explored Macarthur’s approach, creating a surreal-like atmosphere. Unlike Macarthur, Berati uses natural colors, tones of the earth, and world elements. Berati’s inspiration on harmonic relationships comes from Yves Klein. While Klein works a lot with blues, blue hues in Berati’s work represent the sea, but can be interpreted for the audience however they would like to see it.
Right now, Berati lives in Montreal, Canada. He finished his secondary education in the United Kingdom. Two years ago, at Cats College Canterbury International school, Berati noticed how African Americans were pressured based on their looks and behaviors to be accepted by the norm. Berati learned that the environment’s culture influenced the identity of them, and this influenced the creation of Transforming to the Status Quo sculpture. The sculpture demonstrates an exterior change to reach the ideal perfection, or what people see as the social norm. His cultural motifs were inspired by Nigerian artist, Laolu Senbanjo.
You can look up more of Sirio Berati’s work on his Instagram, @sirio. You can even go see his work featured on Vogue here.
Sirio Berati continues his creative work today and strives to improve every day. I cannot stress enough how important it is to support other artists, so make sure to at least take a glance at some of his works today!
Source is a private document Sirio Berati has sent to Her Campus himself, explaining his biography and exhibition information