Arttist46: Mark & Sonia Whitesnow

In their recent Psychospa series, Russian photographer couple Mark and Sonia Whitesnow have taken an old but relevant concept: the innate desire to return to our 'natural roots'. In their recent dontpaniconline interview, they discuss the act of purification of the additives, both physical and psychological, that modern civilization makes part of us as we continue to exist within its system...the various burdens we take on as we become more entrenched in society, the different chemicals we put into our body, etc.

The narrative behind the series follows a reclusive man as he struggles with his place in civilization. Eventually, he decides to go to a strange sort of spa to use natural methods to slowly clean civilization out of his system. Each image illustrates a different step in this process. The end goal of this arduous this spa treatment is to feel graceful, bliss, natural, whole... These spa treatments are meant as an allegory to the idea of dropping everything and abandoning one's place in civilization to pursue a life enveloped in an environment void of man-made structure and influence.

The Whitesnows are making an effort to understand the rapidly changing dynamic between modern man and nature. We allow ourselves to become increasingly reliant on one another and the system we and our ancestors have developed, leaving the parts of our environment free of this system in an ambiguous and unpredictable spot in our lives.