Experimental nominee

Our minds can feel so trapped and small in a world so big. We see the burdens of ourselves repeated daily and see it mirrored through those we know. This photograph represents the weight we sometimes feel. Yet it represents the hope, the dreamer, the vision of more than one outlook.


"Fall" was taken during a live dance performance evening. As I sat myself in the corner on the floor, I saw a vision within my mind as to how I wanted to see this lonely figure of a woman. Using ICM and long exposure techniques, I was able to use the stage smoke and create the effect of running water. Through this experimentation, the lonely woman was transported to different spots, as if she were a ghost, moving through time.

Kiran West, a Canadian raised film maker and photographer who is currently based in Germany, specialises in dance theatre. He has travelled extensively and captured artists on many of the worlds historic stages like the Teatro La Fenice (Venice), the Bunka Kaikan Theater (Tokyo), The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington), The Joyce Theater (New York City), Theater an der Wien (Vienna), Opera di Firenze (Florence), Tchaikovsky Concert Hall (Moscow), the Teatro Romano (Spoleto) and the Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow). His work is published in magazines, DVD's, within stage set projections and to newspapers such as Der Spiegel, Arte, Dance Magazine, Geo, Lufthansa, Die Zeit, Die Welt, amongst others and has a permanent photo exhibition within the Hamburg International Airport. He will open a new exhibit on August the 30th at the Galerie Roschlaub in Hamburg, Germany until December of 2022. As a specialist in dance theatre, he continues to push the boundaries and rules to merge tradition with innovative film making and photographic creativity.