George Voronov – We Became Everything

We Became Everything is an attempt to photograph what a spiritual experience feels like. Spending time with young people in religious communities and on spiritual retreats, I found that all those photographed shared permutations of one core conviction, a belief in the existence of two worlds; our familiar material world but also a second, elusive and mysterious spiritual world. The idea of photographing a link between these worlds, a nexus where the veil between them is thinnest, became a subject of fascination. Almost imperceptible but to those dedicated to their pursuit, these moments are what we have come to know as religious experiences. They are fleeting revelations, subtle rifts in reality, and a feeling of connection to the divine. In these instances, the banal gives way to the sublime. They are decisive metaphysical moments.

George Voronov is a recent graduate of the MFA programme at the Belfast School of Art where he studied under Ken Grant, Donovan Wylie, and Haley Morris Cafiero. His work is primarily interested in youth culture and the use of photography in new and innovative ways to experiment with different forms of storytelling. Voronov’s work was selected as part of the FUTURES programme for this year’s Unseen Photography Festival in Amsterdam as well as being part of New Irish Works 2019, a triennial celebration of the best Irish photography. George is also a co-founder of Junior, a print publication and arts organisation aimed at promoting emerging Irish photography. He splits his time between commercial commissions and his fine-art practice.