Who Is Natasha Kertes?
Few photographers create images that feel as though they have emerged from a dream, a myth, and a memory simultaneously. Natasha Kertes is one of them.
Born in Russia and now based in the United States, Kertes is a contemporary artist whose work explores mythology, beauty, identity, and transformation through photography, installation, and new media. Drawing from folklore, ancient history, literature, nature, and personal experience, she creates meticulously staged images that blur the boundaries between reality and imagination.
While photography is her chosen medium, Kertes approaches it less as documentation and more as world-building. Her images are deeply conceptual, often cinematic in scale and painterly in composition, populated by queens, goddesses, mythological figures, and archetypal characters that seem suspended between past and present. Costumes, locations, symbolism, and carefully orchestrated lighting become tools for constructing visual narratives that invite viewers into alternate realities.
A recurring theme throughout Kertes's work is transformation. Her subjects inhabit liminal spaces where history becomes legend, folklore merges with personal mythology, and beauty exists alongside mystery. Whether working in remote deserts, forests, waterways, or constructed environments, she creates photographs that feel timeless, drawing equally from Russian folklore, classical mythology, religion, surrealism, and romantic painting traditions.
Among her most compelling bodies of work is the Russland Slavic Chants series, an exploration of Slavic mythology and cultural memory. In these images, familiar fairy tale characters and legendary figures are reimagined through a contemporary lens. Works such as Frog Princess transform ancient stories into visually rich tableaux where symbolism and narrative coexist, inviting viewers to rediscover the enduring power of myth.
Frog Princess | Natasha Kertes
Kertes gained recognition through her editorial and commercial photography while expanding into fine art practice. Since then, her work has been exhibited internationally, earning awards and recognition at exhibitions and art fairs in the United States and Europe. Her photographs have been featured in publications and exhibitions that celebrate artists pushing the boundaries of contemporary photographic storytelling.
What ultimately distinguishes Natasha Kertes is her belief in the power of imagination itself. In an era dominated by immediacy and documentation, her photographs ask viewers to slow down, enter a story, and inhabit a world where myth, beauty, and mystery remain very much alive.