Ifa Brand’s move from mod­el to pho­tog­ra­ph­er and self-por­traitist was prompt­ed by her grow­ing frus­tra­tions with the mod­el­ling world, and the desire to seize artis­tic con­trol of her own image. Inspired by pio­neers of fetish style, such as Charles Guyette and Gene Bil­brew, and 1950s’ pin-ups, Bet­tie Page and Jayne Mans­field, she has cre­at­ed her own dis­tinc­tive fusion of old-school glam­our and fetish art. From the begin­ning, she chose to work exclu­sive­ly with Polaroid – a medi­um whose grain­i­ness and tech­ni­cal lim­i­ta­tions she exploits. The result is a series of atmos­pher­ic por­traits that con­vey her per­son­al explo­rations of sen­su­al­i­ty and eroticism.

‘Pho­tog­ra­phy allows me to be both direc­tor and diva, to explore my long love of vin­tage erot­i­ca, and to cre­ate my own instant film stills. It is a jour­ney towards self-empow­er­ment.’ – Ifa Brand

Nora Kobrenik is Edi­tor-In-Chief and Founder of Tar­tarus Mag­a­zine, and a pho­tog­ra­ph­er, mod­el, styl­ist, design­er and artist. Born and raised in the for­mer USSR, she com­bines Russ­ian opu­lence, hard­ness, ele­gance and class with Amer­i­can tra­di­tions, inde­pen­dence and inno­va­tion. She is the patron saint of the scan­dalous, out­ra­geous and mon­strous, and Tar­tarus Mag­a­zine serves as her church and forum. She divides her time between Con­necti­cut and New York City.