Whitehot Magazine

Yana Toyber at the Edges of the Ocean

Yana Toyber, "Hinakuluiau (goddess of rain)," underwater photography, 16 in. x 20 in. (All images courtesy of the artist.)

By JEFFREY GRUNTHANER, JUNE 2016

Taken over the course of a year at different island locations, Yana Toyber's recent photographs are celebrations of femininity. In her own words, "there is a strong connection between women and water. In women and water there is the ability to birth new life." However precise her subject-matter, there's an open-endedness to her work. Mingling commercial photography with landscapes and portraiture, Toyber is sensitive to the inveterate difficulty of photographing nature in process. Her images feel spontaneous, otherworldly. Here are some favorites. WM  

Yana Toyber, "Haumea (goddess of child birth)," underwater photography, 16 in. x 20 in.

Yana Toyber, "Eternal," underwater photography, 16 in. x 20 in.  

Yana Toyber, "Dreaming," underwater photography, 16 in. x 20 in.

Yana Toyber, "Breathless," underwater photography, 16 in. x 20 in.

Yana Toyber, "Kapo," underwater photography, 16 in. x 20 in.

Yana Toyber, "Starfish," underwater photography, 16 in. x 20 in.

Yana Toyber, "Red Dance," underwater photography, 16 in. x 20 in.

Yana Toyber, "Serenity," underwater photography, 16 in. x 20 in.

Yana Toyber, "Water Dancers," underwater photography, 16 in. x 20 in.


Jeffrey Grunthaner

Jeffrey Grunthaner is an artist, writer, musician, & independent curator currently based in Berlin. Essays, articles, poems, and reviews have appeared via BOMB, artnet NewsThe Brooklyn RailAmerican Art CataloguesHyperallergic, Heavy Feather Review, Arcade Project, Folder, Drag City Books, and other venues. He's the author of the poetry pamphlet, Aphid Poems (The Creative Writing Department, 2022), and the full-length poetry collection Paracelsus' Trouble With Sundays (Posthuman Magazine, 2023, with art by Kenji Siratori). Some recent curatorial projects include the reading and discussion series Conversations in Contemporary Poetics at Hauser & Wirth (NY), Sun Oil for Open White Gallery (Berlin), and FEELINGS for synthesis gallery (Berlin). 

Follow Whitehot on Instagram 

Follow Whitehot on Twitter

view all articles from this author