Naele is Elena Sohmen’s latest project, a self-published book around the figure of the alter-ego as a reconnection with the inner self.Naele is a project that began two years ago with the intention of finding oneself through another’s superficial image. It is an intimate book, photo diary with text and drawings. A combination of images of Naele in three cities (London, Granada, and New York) and her thoughts about “I” and her private life.“A blonde girl, who I always wanted to be, a girl who bullied me.”

Elena Sohmen (b. 1999) is a Spanish-German interdisciplinary artist, photographer, andcurator. She completed her studies in Fine Arts at Universidad Complutense in Madrid and hastaken part in the International Curatorial Program at Node Center. She is currently studyingPhotography at the Ostkreuzschule in Berlin.Her work is characterized by a deep engagement with themes of power, accessibility, andperception. She explores the relationship between personal and collective narratives,appropriating public elements and transforming them into artistic statements. She considersthe street her studio, utilizing urban spaces and everyday objects to democratize art andchallenge traditional notions of exclusivity. By playing with clichés, she questions societalconstructs and reveals hidden tensions within the familiar.Her artistic approach blends the monumental with the intimate, intertwining iconic symbolswith deeply personal narratives. She often employs surreal elements in images that appearharmonious at first glance but contain subtle distortions that destabilize the viewer. Thisinterplay between beauty and disruption is central to her practice, as seen in her seriesReconquista del poder (Reconquest of Power), where she uses the figure of the horse—ahistorical emblem of authority—to critique patriarchal and hegemonic structures.Through photography, performance, video, and installation, Elena’s work consistentlychallenges the boundaries of artistic production, proving