Anya Gorkova’s First and Last

Anya Gorkova wants to get to know you: your name, your age, your star sign, your likes and dislikes, your best dates and how long before you kissed them. Dozens of people were filling out paper dating profiles at the opening of Gorkova’s latest photography show at London’s South Parade last month, teasingly titled, ‘Are You Seeing Anyone’. On the walls were little resin blocks with embedded images of boyfriends, girlfriends and theyfriends – 31 of each, one for each day of the month. So it felt only natural for us to ask about Gorkova’s first and last.

First: The accidental photo

My first image dates back to 16th October, 2019 and that was the first day that I spent in the darkroom. It’s a picture of gelatin silver hand print of an infrared film that I poorly developed (I didn’t load it the way that I should’ve and it partially got stuck to itself, which resulted in underdevelopment of some parts). This ‘mistake’ was the starting point for my interest in ‘interrupting a photograph’. I started investigating the processes behind the image making rather than thinking about its content. I sincerely don’t know what I’d be doing right now, if that ‘mistake’ didn’t happen!

Last: Robert Spragg at Brunette Coleman

My last picture is a photograph of Robert Spragg, the director of general information, at the opening of Oscar Engberg’s show ‘Schiller’s Skull; Mysterious Vessel’ at Brunette Coleman. Rob’s explaining why what we were looking at was a painting… absolutely adore Rob! He got in touch after seeing my grad show piece and has been patiently following my practice ever since. It can feel quite isolating when at the studio at times, especially when you are going through some major changes. And having an ongoing conversation with someone who understands your practice is absolutely priceless. I have so much gratitude! We cooperatively worked on my solo show ‘Are you seeing anyone’ at South Parade in London.