“Hidden Album” is the project of Romanian visual artist Denisa Robu. It explores trauma portrayal and aims to depict “how the body holds what we try to forget.”
Through distorted images of the human body and crimson stains, Robu engages in creative exposure therapy. A study of vulnerability that transforms pain and gives permission to continue one’s life unapologetically.
It is not comforting imagery. It is intentionally disturbing and somber to achieve the ultimate value of Robu’s work—veracity.
Through an interdisciplinary approach to photography, painting, and poetry, Robu is not confined by the limits of any of them. With dual combinations of trauma and healing, meditation and prayer, or peace and struggle, the artist succeeds in delivering rich, impactful visuals, while heavy elements of decisiveness and, at times, even unforgiveness can be traced throughout her art.
“Me, in the middle. You, at the other end.” A short, honest poem is overlaid on the picture of a hand reaching out from the other end of the ether. Just one of the intermittent emotional spirals that Robu seems to draw inspiration from. Adding all this to the raw imagery, high-contrast, retro editing style, and a subtle attraction for censored (or muffled?) nudity, the artist’s body of work overwhelms the viewer with the lust of shuttered glass.
“Hidden Album” describes the lingering presence of trauma caused by emotional, sexual, and physical abuse. The project approaches these experiences through their persistence in the body’s memory, the ways in which skin continues to register pain long after the events ended.
FULL SERIES
Read our “Metamorphosis” issue in full
In the 3rd issue of RAWGUE., 24 visual artists and poets share a common pursuit: authenticity over perfection. The subtle art of becoming, the passage through various stages of artistic contemplation, the ever-shifting states of mind, feeling, and medium, or the act of altering reality to underline emotion or meaning – metamorphosis.
We’re a team of writers using our craft to spotlight art in its most honest form. RAWGUE. started as a bi-monthly editorial experiment where each issue’s theme is dictated by the submitted work, thus removing editorial bias from the equation and preserving a more raw approach. We focus on all forms of poetry: written, photographed, painted, drawn, and filmed.
