Maria Lankina
Miami Beach, FL
Miami based artist building Mythohuman across analog and AI. Work studies evidence, myth, and power. Built from survival with refusal, precision, and control.
MessageCollection: Obedience Studies / equestrian
Obedience Studies stages a series of photographic rituals where the body is composed, not exposed. These women are not caught — they are arranged, disciplined, and deliberate.
Shot in ambient natural light, the images revisit equestrian codes, fetish symbols, and erotic posture — not as spectacle, but as structure. Submission becomes a form.
While some might hear the echo of Helmut Newton in these compositions, the resemblance is incidental, not referential. Lankina photographed women as mythic figures before she ever read his name — towering not because they mimic fashion power, but because they hold it.
The origin of this work lies not in homage but in experience: early-2000s exposure to real-world kink culture, not as fantasy but as fact, shaped the visual logic here. This is not commentary — it is a studied arrangement of control, stillness, and command.
