A self-portrait inspired by Zhuang Zhou’s dream of the butterfly. Merging my face with the wings of Attacus atlas, it reflects my journey through anorexia—between control and surrender, fragility and renewal. The butterfly becomes a symbol of transformation, learning to live, to breathe, to exist again.
Irina Petrova is an internationally published and award winning photographer and artist. She specializes in wild life micro-photography and science fiction inspired installations organically integrating living and artificial entities. A unique feature of her work is she only uses retro manual focus lenses to share the wonders of the world. She has won a substantial number of awards and prizes, including 3 recent awards in BIFA 2020, winner of FEP Awards 2021 Nature Golden Camera and ND Discovery of the Year in category Nature 2019.