I happen to have written a critique of this model’s first MetArt pictorial. While I found no fault with the model’s performance, I did note several peculiarities in the design and execution of the photo series.

Now I have the opportunity to revisit Semmi A, this time working with a different photographer, and I quickly discover we’ve moved from the simply peculiar to the downright perplexing. This is a truly odd artistic effort.

The strangeness in Alex Iskan‘s photo essay isn’t fully apparent in the first handful of images, but it is there, make no mistake. Here we find Semmi A on a long staircase leading up to what is either a Soviet era housing project, or perhaps a minimum security prison. The weathered  concrete surrounding the model is cracked, weedy, and litter is scattered about. Semmi is cute and appealing, however, wearing sunglasses on this sunshiny day and a figure-hugging dress in an eye-catching shade of turquoise. But compare #006 with #007. In the first, framed in a way that suggests she’s nude in this public place, there’s a beautiful, natural spontaneity. In the second, her face nearly obscured by her hair, what are we to think? My guess: a curious error perhaps caused by a sudden, unexpected gust of wind. Odd that it’s included.

But the oddness has only just begun! The bulk of the set takes place in a backyard. There is an air of disrepair to the setting, and the lawn is unkempt, coarse, and dieing in patches. Semmi is positioned on a chaise lounge, wearing a black and white cocktail dress. To add to the building incongruity, these images are strangely underexposed, perhaps deliberately. A large ceramic frog is present in some shots, and a flower and other foliage is often present, out of focus, in the immediate foreground. It’s not easy to describe, nor is it easy to comprehend. Examine #035 and see what conclusions you can come up with.

Semmi A and Alex Iskan are definitely up to something in “Kladie.” I’m not sure what it is, exactly, but there’s an intriguing quality in the overall strangeness of the set. #033 and #051 make a curious pair, for example. #063 has an almost David Lynch feel. And the poses and day-for-night lighting in #100 and #118 add mystery to the prevailing inscrutability. For those seeking the unusual, this set provides a ray of surreal sunshine on a “Kladie” day.