In Conversation With… documentary photographers Michaela Nagyidaiová and Kristina Sergeeva

In Conversation With started as a visual discussion between documentary photographers and recent LCC alumni Michaela Nagyidaiová and Kristina Sergeeva. A moody, cinematic, relatable and ever growing collection of images that opens up the conversation between likeminded artists worldwide.

“We aim to photographically cover a range of topics from history, community to lands and environments, driven from our background and family roots. It has since become a platform for visual discussions and extends to photographers of any age, background and location to join our conversations, share their projects or work-in-progress while discovering other photographers and connecting with their works.”

“During these strange times, we thought that we would contribute to the discussion of isolation and social distancing. Coming from two very different situations and perspectives, we visually exchange letters and diary entries between each other through this platform. We did not necessarily want to make new work, only if we really felt like it to avoid the pressure to create work, so we started digging in our archives to pair our diary entries with ‘older’ images, photographed over the last few months or years.”

For Michaela, the diary entries were something she could use to categorise her days, to show her daily routine, and to keep herself somewhat organised and motivated to do something every day. She writes whatever she feels like writing, one day it might be a description of her mood or feelings and the next day might be a complete list of what she has been up to. Kristina has been writing down personal thoughts and feelings, which she otherwise wouldn’t put down on a piece of paper nor share with anyone on a daily basis. For her, it is also a way of analysing her mental state and seeing what makes her happy or down on different days. “We both wished to express and visualise the repetitiveness of our daily routines and make the entries relatable to our audience.”

“This conversation has been different, it was a spontaneous idea, which aims to show how two individuals with very contrasting stories are getting by in this situation. We are all here, we are all expressing it in our own way, and that is fine. This is our way of connecting with each other with our photographs and written entries. It has been intriguing to visualise our different moods through a written format, but also to compare how we are both feeling on various days.”

Michaela and Kristina are hoping to grow In Conversation With to a bigger international platform, featuring photographers from different places in their publications. Next to that, they’re hoping to set up a series of workshops where artists or photographers can generate ideas, collaborate and discuss their work. All of this might eventually result in an online shop where you can buy prints to support independent artists.

“At present, we would love for the platform to grow, especially internationally, as we are curious to find stories and connect with photographers from all around the world. We have already produced two open calls for photographers to submit to. At the very beginning, we kickstarted the discussion with the theme of Family Spaces and through this, we connected and featured three photographers and visual artists, Frances Bukovsky (US), Shannon Osborne (UK) and Dafne Salis (Italy). This theme led us to design and self-publish Revisiting the Roots, a photographic zine in which we join both of our recent and photographic projects.”

Open Call

In Conversation With is currently holding an open call surrounding the theme Getting By, which is based on the current situation and aims to visualise various ways visual artists are dealing with lockdown and social distancing. You can submit your work by emailing hello.inconversationwith@gmail.com