Water Abstractions
Water, in its various states of matter, is one of Elitza Nanova‘s favorite photographic motifs. In the element of water, she finds an equivalent in nature for the moving, transitive, and fleeting, which also fascinates her about dance.
WATER ABSTRACTIONS (2025) emerged from the series Berlin as a Water Reflection (2022-2025).
In her Berlin photographs, Elitza focuses on Berlin‘s intangible architecture. The reflections in the water transform the massive, prestigious buildings along the Spree into light, fleeting, impressionistic and pointillist-like photographs. There, the water is „tame,“ and the outlines of the buildings are clearly visible.
In the abstract images, however, the focus is on the moving water, as well as on details and fragments that the photographer seeks out in the Spree with the help of a zoom lens. „People were amazed at what I was photographing in the murky water,“ she says, „but I discovered entire worlds—houses, water traffic signs, posters in the craziest shapes and modifications.“ The water, churned up by the passing boats, causes bridges and buildings to fly apart, the colors of the reflected objects become splashes of color, transforming their forms into expressive lines and abstract structures.
“Water gives me the opportunity to transform photography into painting and to reinterpret the world around me by transforming the well-known into the unknown.”
WATER ABSTRACTIONS (2025) emerged from the series Berlin as a Water Reflection (2022-2025).
In her Berlin photographs, Elitza focuses on Berlin‘s intangible architecture. The reflections in the water transform the massive, prestigious buildings along the Spree into light, fleeting, impressionistic and pointillist-like photographs. There, the water is „tame,“ and the outlines of the buildings are clearly visible.
In the abstract images, however, the focus is on the moving water, as well as on details and fragments that the photographer seeks out in the Spree with the help of a zoom lens. „People were amazed at what I was photographing in the murky water,“ she says, „but I discovered entire worlds—houses, water traffic signs, posters in the craziest shapes and modifications.“ The water, churned up by the passing boats, causes bridges and buildings to fly apart, the colors of the reflected objects become splashes of color, transforming their forms into expressive lines and abstract structures.
“Water gives me the opportunity to transform photography into painting and to reinterpret the world around me by transforming the well-known into the unknown.”
