Julia Soboleva’s images seem to come from another world, a world that lures you in, ominous and irresistible. Strange stories unfold, scenes you’re not sure you should witness, but from which you can’t look away. The light is different here: eerie, but so beautiful, glowing through cracks in the darkness. And though many of the creatures who live in this world are absurd, almost comical, any humor is tempered with an edge of menace. This artwork is compelling, disturbing, subtly erotic, disarmingly humorous, completely foreign but dreamily familiar.

And though this world seems timeless, with a logic and mythology of its own, the contradictions and conflicts in these works make us question ourselves–our humanity, our sanity, our society, our pleasure and our pain.

Julia Soboleva is a Latvia born, UK based mix-media artist. Her process involves painting and collage on found photographic imagery. She obtained a Master’s Degree in Illustration at Manchester School of Art in 2018, and is now working as a full time artist. See more of her work on Instagram and Etsy.