Name: 

Navina Khatib

Location: 

Berlin and Andalucía (Spain)

Medium:

Photography 

How did you get started?

I’ve been taking photos of landscapes my whole life, but I always felt that a simple photograph of a landscape was not what I was looking for – instead, I wanted it to look more like a painting. 

It was around 2016 when I started to experiment with analog filters, lenses and editing programs like Photoshop etc. or apps like Snapseed, but mainly got into multiple exposure techniques. I was so impressed by the options of manipulating the inherent beauty of nature by post-processing that I kept on working and therefore developed my own style.

What role does art play in the home?

Art often works as a kind of therapy – you could even call it a color therapy. In Berlin where I live, we hardly have light and colors especially in the winter days, so most people get depressed. From the fields of art therapy, I know about the impact colors have especially on children. I love the power of colors, the influence they have on our moods and minds.

Where do you find your inspiration? Any influences?

Andrei Tarkowski, Impressionism (mainly Claude Monet), Caspar David Friedrich, David Lynch, nature and light.

Favorite pieces on ArtStar?

Linda Westin & Paolo Pettigiani are both super creative and do amazing works. Always inspiring!

Can you tell us the story behind your favorite piece from you ArtStar selection?

Pyramids of Chi I is from of my Bali series I shot in January 2020. The pyramids host a sound healing and light therapy center in the middle of the tropical jungle of Ubud, Bali. I took the photos with a kaleidoscope lens right after the sound healing ceremony at 32 degrees. Magic!

What do you hope to accomplish with your art? How do you want people to feel when they see it?

I don’t want to control how other people perceive my work. I am always happy when somebody writes me a lovely message or elaborates on my images, for example saying it is like a kind of meditation for them. This is a great joy for me, for it means that the abstract landscapes might have the same kind of impact on them as they have on me. However, I don’t want to lead the viewers. I don’t want to be explanatory. People should see in my pictures whatever they want to see in them.