Fine Art nominee

IN THE BEGINNING WE ALL LIVED PEACEFULLY TOGETHER IN A PLACE CALLED PARADISE... But over time, humans grew further apart from the animals. In this series I wonder how things could have been if we didn’t leave paradise, is there still a way to return? Is there a way to create a new? Will we find a way? This series is dedicated to demonstrating the beauty and fragility of our natural world. A way to awaken compassion from within, - to inspire the future generation to preserve and protect their natural heritage. And that the physical use of animals is no longer necessary for photography or film today. It’s time to reconnect with our fragile planet - it’s worth our undivided attention.

The landscape, Model, and animals (in their natural habitat from a safe distance) are photographed separately on different locations and form the elements for each composition. The photographs are unified by digital manipulation, through weeks of hand-drawn digital painting. Each image in the series requires lenghty preparation, shot in manual mode with 40MP medium format.

Cheraine Collette, born in 1993 the Netherlands, graduated in 2015 in Photographic Design at The Fotovakschool University of Applied Photography.
Cheraine's work covers every aspect of photographic production, from photographing- to manipulating and digitally painting her images.

In the course of 3 years, Cheraine Collette's work has been awarded over 200 international awards in internationally acclaimed photography competitions such as the International Photography Awards (IPA), the Prix de la Photographie Paris(PX3), the Siena International Photo Award (SIPA), the Fine Art Photography Awards (FAPA), Neutral Density Awards, the International Color Awards, and more.

Her work has been featured by the National Geographic NL, the National Geographic Traveler China, FORBES, the Telegraph, and more.

With her works, she has attended exhibitions such as Scope Miami, Contemporary Art Istanbul, a solo show at the 6th Biennial of Barcelona, and had two solo shows in 2021 and 2022 in Amsterdam and Barcelona and has become a permanent artist at Villa Del Arte Galleries.