Set in the Romanian landscape and created over the past four years, the project takes inspiration from a local Romanian folk tale, following the story of a young prince on his quest for eternal life. The work sensitively responds to the strong role that folklore plays within Romanian culture. In this poetic collision of reality and fantasy, symbols and cues are playfully introduced encouraging the viewer to embark and reflect on their own journey.

‘Youth Without Age, Life Without Death: Chapter 1’ is a response to the artist’s need to escape, adventure and roam in reaction to internal pressure. Pannack feels that time is moving too fast. It seems like a shared experience that hours, days and weeks pass and we can’t recall them, life continues and time slips away. Pannack’s adventure began in Romania. The strong sense of timelessness, tradition and untouched scenery mirrored her desire to stop time. This is a photographic exploration of the people, places and landscapes the artist encountered in Romania, drawing directly on the famous mythology and sense of a temporal place, offering a view on the fragility of life. In this work Pannack intentionally plays with the notion of fiction and the present moment, alternating between reality and fantasy, her photographs respond to a feeling of separation from the modern world.

Artist Bio: 

Laura Pannack (b.1985, UK) is a London based photographic artist renowned for her portraiture and social documentary work, she seeks to explore the complex relationship between subject and photographer. Her work has been exhibited and published worldwide, including at The National Portrait Gallery, The Houses of Parliament, Somerset House and the Royal Festival Hall in London. Her artwork has received much acclaim and won numerous awards, among which are the John Kobal Award, Vic Odden prize, World Photo Press Awards, Juliet Margaret Cameron award, The Sony World Photography Awards, and the HSBC Prix de la Photographie prize. Many of her projects focus on youth and the passing of time, where she fuses her passion for psychology and creativity, often collaborating with a range of practitioners. Pannack believes the process is always built on a shared experience. She aims to dig beneath the surface and shift beyond what we think we see. The work is driven by research-led, self-initiated projects that push her to grow both as an artist and as an individual. Largely shooting on analogue film, enables her process to be organic rather than predefined by fixed ideas, introducing chance and fate. Many of her projects span over several years allowing the narrative to arise during its development.