The Creepy & The Seductive: An Intimate Look into Nika Sandler's Photographic Universe
The Creepy &
The Seductive
"On New Year's Eve, I made a wish to immerse myself forever in the sensations that I experienced while taking tranquilizers." Nika Sandler
An artist whose work fearlessly navigates the unsettling, alluring, and raw edges of human experience, Nika Sandler's photography and text is a vital force in contemporary image-making.
Published in i-D, Liberation, and The Calvert Journal, and recently winner of The Photographers' Gallery's Small File Photo Festival, Sandler's practice is a rigorous and deeply personal exploration of gaze, gender, pleasure, and the "creepy and disgusting."
Her latest series is a direct confrontation with her own experience of what theorist Mark Fisher termed "depressive hedonia," an inability to do anything but pursue empty pleasure. She turned, as always, to her art.
"In this series, I depict different types of pleasures and the states associated with them. I create still lifes and environments from objects and substances that are associated with something pleasant and seductive, and sometimes creepy."
The Photographers' Gallery
"I create still lifes and environments from objects and substances that are associated with something pleasant and seductive, and sometimes creepy."Nika Sandler · On Her Current Series
When asked about her career beginnings, Sandler's answer is starkly honest:
This origin story is the bedrock of her practice, an urgent, necessary act of creation born from a need to survive. Photography was not a casual choice but a critical intervention.
"Animals inspire me, especially cats. I want to be a cat when I grow up," she says with disarming charm. But it is a specific aesthetic that truly fuels her: "When I see creepy and disgusting images, I want to create."
"I work at home at night, alone, drunk. I use improvised items to create works. Then I spend a long time editing photos."
This methodical, almost alchemical process transforms mundane, often bodily, substances into hauntingly seductive tableaus. The darkness, the solitude, the altered state, all deliberate, all essential.
As an artist deeply engaged with the "non-human gaze," Sandler's perspective on AI is one of curious observation rather than fear.
"What does wellbeing mean to you?"
A poignant reflection, and a direct mirror of the work itself.
In a world that often feels overwhelmingly polished, Nika Sandler's work and words offer a necessary, unsettling, and deeply human truth. She does not look away. She picks up the camera instead.
"Thank you Leila for this artist interview. I really appreciate receiving feedback, so if readers want to write to me, I'll be very happy to chat with them."
This conversation touches on mental health and suicidal thoughts. If you are struggling, please reach out to someone you trust or a local crisis line. You are not alone.
