Fine Art nominee

Every story is made up. All the stories that we hear about the world, the way things work in it and what our place in it is have been made up for us by our parents, school, society. However, when we realize that everything has been made up, now it’s our turn to tell ourselves a new story. And this story can be anything we ever wanted it to be. It won’t be easy. But it’s possible to forget all the stories that were bringing us down, and create our own, the one that will empower us - from scratch. But to do that, we need to cut the old stories first.

This project is which is my take on how at times we need to cut the old stories that we’ve been telling ourselves and redefine our perception of the world.

Dasha Pears is an award-winning Russian conceptual photographer, currently based in Helsinki, Finland. Dasha’s unique style is dreamlike and whimsical. Her works tell stories that combine real life and surrealism, making the viewer stop and think.

She started her photographic path in 2011, after reaching burnout in a marketing communications career. Having tried many types of photography, Dasha found herself in the conceptual and fine art sphere. Since then her images have been exhibited in Russia, France, Poland, Austria, and Finland. Her work was also named among the winners of Best of Russia’15, had an honorable mention during Trierenberg Super Circuit 2017 and 2018 photography contests in Linz, Austria, and won a bronze medal during Prix de la Photographie Paris, 2018. Dasha’s photographs are used worldwide by companies like Trevillion, ArcAngel, plainpicture and Millennium Images, and can be found on covers of books published in Europe, the United States and South America.



In 2016 Dasha started sharing her experience of organizing conceptual photography shoots and producing surrealist artworks in the form of creative photography workshops. Since then she has held over 15 events in Finland and abroad..