We meet the woman behind @mimi_brune, a hub of beautiful still life portraiture and one of our favourite Instagram accounts
A candied orange and marzipan loaf overflows with white icing, mirroring the melted wax of the candles flanking it; a halved squash spills its giant, rust-coloured seeds onto white muslin; a fiery smattering of satsumas litter a wooden table top. At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that St Petersburg-based Instagrammer Alya Galinovskaya has filled her year-old account with images of Dutch still lifes and Caravaggio details, but these are in fact her own photographs, modestly captured on an iPhone 5s.
Posting under the name @mimi_brune, a pseudonym inspired by her admiration of all things French, the ardent food lover and all-round craftswoman photographs the activities and objects that define her everyday life, elevating them to miniature artworks through her masterful, chiarascuro aesthetic. "I love the way that light shines and colours pop out of the shadows in dark-tone photographs," she says. "It gives this special moody touch; taking white and weightless photographs is not very me."
"I love the way that light shines and colours pop out of the shadows in dark-tone photographs" – Alya Galinovskaya
While Galinovskaya works in hospitality management, she has an artistic background: "From the age of seven until I was 18, I spent every day drawing – nature, people, still lifes – it was my entire life. And now my photography subconsciously reflects my paintings, only instead of a brush there's a camera." She also runs a small cake atelier on the side, describing cooking as her "second art", and often portraying the various stages of the cooking process in her images. So how long does it take Galinovskaya to set up her sumptuous still lifes? "It's always different. Sometimes you just need to turn your head to see a perfect scene; sometimes it takes hours to put it together. But that look of naturalness is what I strike for."
Galinovskaya never enjoyed social networks before discovering Instagram but now describes herself as "trapped quite badly" by the app's charm. "I am so inspired by the other people on there, who are so good at making everything look beautiful. Sincerely and effortlessly they showed me the things I couldn't see myself – the beauty of simple living, of the lives we live."
