Open Theme nominee

Planet Earth is 4.5 billion years old. Mankind is about 140 thousand years old. If we compress the Earth's existence into a normal full day of 24 hours, then we’ve been on this planet for... 2.5 seconds.

In 2.5 seconds we’ve become the dominant species with a rapidly growing population, causing a catastrophic impact on the environment. We have created the industrial revolution and burned fossil fuels creating more carbon in the atmosphere than ever before. We have caused global warming at a record pace, endangering our own existence. We have cut trees and destroyed forests more than ever before, polluted air, water, and soil. We have created an island of waste, the size of the state of Texas, in the middle of the ocean. We have caused the 4th mass animal extinction. Three-quarters of Earth’s land surface is under pressure from human activity. In just 2.5 seconds we’ve turned the planet into our own personal factory.

It took almost 4.5 billion years of evolution for us to exist and we have changed so much in so little time.
The problem is us. And it is up to us if we want to make it to the 4th second.

Anya Anti is a New York based internationally published and award winning photo artist who specializes in on-location fine art and conceptual female portraiture. Originally from Ukraine she moved to United Stated in 2014. Anya's been into photography since 2009 and as a self-taught she gained all her knowledge and inspiration through social media and online photography communities. A year-and-a-half later, she started creating fine art surrealistic female portraits, which became her preferable genre and a hallmark of her work.

Installations, costumes and Photoshop manipulation help Anya to embody her fantasies into a finished piece of art. She shoots mostly with old vintage manual lenses like Helios and Petzval. Their imperfections help her be more creative and achieve that dreamy effect.

As a workshop instructor, Anya has already taught in different countries. She has showcased her work at exhibitions and been published all around the globe. In 2015 she was a lucky winner of Broncolor GenNEXT sponsorship and took 2nd place at Fine Art Photography Awards Professional Fine Art category.