Ulla Reiss is a New York-based artist originally from Russia. Reiss’ primary practice started in photography though her work often spans a wide range of media. For Reiss, the physical act of shooting and printing film is the starting point for her broader practice as an artist, the darkroom as alchemical chamber. She explores the subconscious by delving into recesses of her memories. Reiss transmutes personal experiences into a contemporary context through dreamlike visual imagery. Guided by the duality of light and dark, she captures unseen moments in their meeting.
Ulla frequently draws from the emotional material base of her childhood. After nine years of professional sport in the Olympic Reserve School of Gymnastics in Russia, Reiss developed an early relationship with discipline, structure, and physical form, elements that continue to inform her visual language.
She began her career in front of the lens, working internationally as a model for fashion houses. Traveling the world allowed Reiss to visit cultural institutions and further develop her visual vocabulary. Over time, Reiss moved from in front of the camera to behind it, finding her own narrative voice.
Reiss’s works across photography, performance and experimental film, approaching the body as a site of memory, perception, and transformation. Her work explores the intersection of physical and psychological states, using movement as a way of thinking and a contemporary form of ritual.
