Désirée Sydow

About the artist

Désirée Sydow is a self portrait photographer based in London, UK.

After a chronic injury forced her to give up drawing and painting, she decided to focus solely on the medium of photography.

This background in traditional art has heavily shaped her current photography style, with her other main influence being fashion photography.

As a self-portrait photographer, she is not just the photographer but also the model, portraying characters that represent different facets of herself and at the same time of all human beings. 

Désirée‘s intent is to create evocative images that express universal emotions such as sadness, loneliness or joy.

Her work has won several awards, e.g. the Prix de la Photographie Paris and the European Photography Award, and has been shortlisted for the British Photography Award for two consecutive years.

Désirée is very passionate about educating others in the topic of art photography. She publish weekly content on her blog and she’s currently writing an educational e-book aimed at self-portrait photographers.

Artwork Themes & Subject Matter

Désirée Sydow‘s images are a means to express emotions and thus become a manifestation of her inner landscape. As these emotions are universal, her intent is for the photographs to evoke similar feelings, images or memories within the viewer, mirroring her own experiences but interpreted through their own lens.⁠ 

As a self-portrait artist, she is not just the photographer but also the model, portraying characters that represent different facets of herself and at the same time of all human beings, since we all share the same emotional spectrum.⁠ 

A big driving force behind her photographs is the quest for beauty –Désirée always strive to turn emotional experiences into aesthetically pleasing images. Her visual language is heavily influenced by classical painting, in particular the intense, poetic lighting of the Dutch Masters, as well as fashion photography, symbolism, dreams and words. ⁠

See also

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PAINTINGDARK ARTFIGURATIVE ARTNUDE ARTOILPORTRAITUREREALISMSURREAL ART

Lo Chan Peng

Press

Désirée Sydow‘s self-portraits have been published in online sources including She Snaps and Muse.World.

Upcoming Exhibitions

CV

Education

2018, 1 Year Photography Diploma, City Lit London, United Kingdom

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023

BBA Photo Prize, Kühlhaus Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Storyteller Exhibition, Decode Gallery, Tucson, AZ. United States