Maya Van Der Laan

My practice is largely centred around my community, my peers and friends, and my place in the world. My photography-based media focuses on capturing the essence of teenage to young adulthood, relationships, and the nostalgic memories of youth and finding out who you are. I express my journey of self-discovery through my artwork and how I navigate the definition of friendship in different circumstances and environments, which has become increasingly more complex in isolation. I feel this form of documentation is life-affirming, emotionally uplifting, nostalgic. My motivation for creating and valuing the tender space within friendships comes from a place of care and nurturing memories. My style is a mix between documentary, portraiture and street photography, predominantly using film. I have been reworking my images to generate a series of water-based prints and inkjet prints, using a mixture of analogue and digital processes. The element of analogue printing, as well as analogue photography, has extreme importance in my practice. I feel it connects to the motivations behind the prints, and in this way, I am able to capture a story in its imperfections. Accidental ink smudges, shapes hidden in the graininess of the film all attribute to the depth of the image.