Oya Babaoglu's painterly manipulation on Polaroids

"oya is a young turkish filmmaker and polaroid photographer who is currently living in atlanta, ga, usa. apart from the camera arts, oya also dances, paints, draws, writes. oya usually works around such themes of memory, identity, sexuality, melancholy, trauma, inequality. oya’s works are all about creating a scene, a scene that comes from her perception of the world, a scene that represents something beyond its frame. Yet, oya's scenes are often mysterious, thought-provoking, seductive, dark, melancholic, and surreal."

See more of oya's work on instagram at @elvetw_

oya created these series of images by cutting out some of the polaroids she took with her original vintage 680 camera. later, oya used different colors of nail polish, glow-in-the-dark neon paint, nail polish remover, as well as water on top of the cut polaroid films. layers and layers of each, and on repeat.

oya got interested in photography when she was as young as five years old when she tried her father’s film camera for the first time. capturing a moment that can be fully in your control but the end result still would not be, because it is all a creation of one's perception, this has always fascinated and motivated her. yet, oya’s love for polaroid photography did not come in the picture until later, in 2012 when she got her first polaroid camera.

oya has many points or inspiration, however she always has been intrigued by the effects of an abusive past, effects of a trauma on the person, effects of injustice on the individual and so on. oya, being highly empathetical, uses her art to reflect on her pain, on others pain, on the world’s pain, and takes a stance on such heavy and/or controversial subjects, themes, or images.