Katerina Belkina dreams of space, planets, and distant universes – of places filled with romance, wonder, and the promise of the future. At the same time, she feels deeply connected to her roots here on Earth: ‘I think about what happens to us as humans when we search for better places, yet struggle to overcome our own challenges.’

The mind itself is a universe – a space where we shape our own reality. Her images speak to this idea: ‘In difficult times, I like to imagine we find comfort in imaginary worlds filled with stars and galaxies. Born for the cosmos, we should use our imagination to build new realities.’

Belkina creates miniature ‘alien landscapes’ from everyday materials like paper, stones, or flour. She photographs these handmade scenes, populates them with planets and figures, and in doing so, constructs alternate worlds that feel both personal and cosmic. ‘I imagine two celestial bodies: one powerful and distant, outside our atmosphere – and one small, a kind of personal totem, close to us.’

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Katerina Belkina (*1974, Samara, Russia) studied painting at the Petrov-Vodkin Academy and later honed her photographic skills under the guidance of Michael Musorin. Her distinctive ‘painted’ photographs have been shown in exhibitions around the world. In 2007, she was nominated for the Kandinsky Prize; in 2015, she was awarded the Lucas Cranach Prize; and in 2016, she received the prestigious Hasselblad Masters Award. Today, she lives and works in Werder (Havel), just outside Berlin.