
CYNTHIA KARALLA
I am an alchemist, an activist, and an experimental artist. My practice moves along the edges of contemporary reality, sometimes slipping into the metaverse, sometimes bending the very idea of linear time. I began as an architect who became a photographer, eventually grounding myself in the language of fine arts. But at the heart of it all, my work is about transformation — turning negatives into positives. Just like when I develop film, it’s a process of shifting perception, of reframing how we see and feel the world around us.
Photography, to me, is more than a medium — it’s a way of redirecting vision, of guiding the eye toward new ways of seeing the sensible. In the chaotic, thrown-together texture of our post-digital lives, I find solace in the darkroom. The act of developing film becomes my navigation tool — through relationships, through the city, through the intricate layers of everyday experience.
Hermetic philosophy has shaped much of this journey. It’s taught me to embrace unpredictability, to trust the strange and beautiful alchemy that unfolds in both life and art. The chemistry, the transformation, the surprise — this is where the magic lives.