Having been born in the USSR and moved in my early childhood, I found myself in a situation – I have never been to Azerbaijan, although I was born in its territory.
The work uses a picture of the sky from an airplane. It’s a situation where you have already left the borders of one country and are not yet officially in another. Also the background and the caption refer to Eric Bulatov’s work ‘Glory of the CPSU’.
POPCORN
I started the first work in the series as part of my training, but the pivotal moment in the story added a particularly poignant context. In the series, I work with geographical points, which in themselves create meaning. And dates, as stated earlier, also lend their own meaning. The image of a person munching popcorn is not the most pleasant image in this context, but it’s a necessary self-criticism in this difficult situation. I am myself in the frame, although I felt it was not easy to accept this role, but I am one of the people involved in the situation, at least as an observer.
POPCORN-14
video | looped | 22.02.2022
There is a cemetery right in the center of the Olympic Park in Sochi. This is all that’s left form the settlement of local Old Believers during construction. This place and event as a manifestation of the cult of self-assertion at all costs. With worldwide support. In addition to the 2014 Olympics, the 2018 World Cup was also held here.
The work was created for the exhibition ‘Territory of sleep’.
POPCORN-22
video | looped | 24.02.2022
Screen caption: Images from the scene of intense fighting near Schastye | In the world
Schastye (Ukr. Shchastya, the name means Happiness) is a town in the Luhansk region of Ukraine. The catastrophic morning of 24 February. How to fill the world with happiness? This place is like the last drop in a stream of completely intolerable news this morning. Maybe it’s just a wicked irony, a bad dystopia or a pathology that can no longer be ignored.
POPCORN-23
video | looped | 2023
‘No rus no problems’ sign on Anna Politkovskaya Street in Tbilisi, Georgia. One of the many anti-Russian inscriptions.
But why is there not a single street named after Anna Politkovskaya in Russia? Because she was killed according to the principle ‘no man – no problem’? Because she was killed for her journalistic work on the principle ‘no reporting the problem – no problems’?
This place is my temporary home, after emigrating from Russia. I am still the same observer in relative safety. I am still the same observer of various manifestations of the universal errors of humanity.
DON’T HIDE BEHIND GUILT
video | looped | 2021
Guilt allows you to hold on to the illusion of an emotional connection and not to recognize yourself as completely alone. As in the Bible, people are sinful but they still remain being a part of God’s providence even after being expelled from heaven.
But only without guilt can you go further along the path of evolution of loneliness.
The work was created for the exhibition ‘The Evolution of loneliness’.
FALLING ON TRUST
video | looped | 2022
Ready answers. Good and clear. Or falling without insurance. It’s much too obvious or wise stability. Doubtful choice or the choice to doubt.
‘The new certainty is dynamic, it is based – instead of external protection – on the spontaneous activity of the individual himself. He acquires it constantly, in every moment of his spontaneous life. It is a certainty that only freedom can give, and it needs no illusions, because it has eliminated the conditions that cause the need for these illusions.’ E. Fromm, ‘Escape from Freedom.’
The video is inscribed with the word ‘freedom’ in 6 languages. Languages that I understand to varying degrees, including my absolute lack of knowledge. But after all, the word ‘freedom’ has the same meaning everywhere. Or maybe it doesn’t.
English, Russian, Ukrainian and Georgian are the languages I work with as part of the charity organization ‘Motskhaleba’, which helps Ukrainians who fled the war. Armenian and Azerbaijani are languages that my parents knew, but I don’t know because my family fled the Karabakh war.
Is there a correct spelling of the word ‘freedom’ here or should I write my own?
GIVEN
A series of works about human nature, limitation, and hope.
GIVEN: EVERYONE IS SO TENDER
video | looped | 2021
This phrase was casually used in a dialogue, the phrase that implied the opposite of its literal meaning.
The neck is shown in the background. Some animals show their necks to a stronger opponent, and the opponent doesn’t attack, understanding the signal ‘I’m weak, you can easily cut my throat, but there is no point in doing this’. Can a person feel that kind of empathy?
GIVEN: THE PRIVILEGE OF PAIN
video | looped | 2024
A neck injury is painful. And I need to heal it. But I don’t need to hide from gunfire. I don’t have to live with a domestic tyrant. And I don’t have to worry about my safety because of a disapproved form of dress. I’m lucky to just feel the pain.
ROARING TWENTIES
video | looped | 2022
On the video there is a simple act – we are popping the bubble wrap. It’s calming. Or not. Hearts burst with a specific sound.
The work was created for the exhibition ‘Tsy-tramon’ about the experience of pain and getting rid of it.
MEDEA: JUST A WOMAN IS A FOOL
video | looped | 2020
The video loops the process of a woman going into the depths. The water contains sharp pieces.
The work was created as a part of an exhibition of Petrozavodsk artists. Therefore, in addition to the story of Medea, it relied on the story of Petrozavodsk resident who, due to postpartum depression, killed her two children and committed suicide. Under the article about this event there was a comment ‘There is no depression; just a woman is a fool’.
The work was created for the exhibition ‘Medea’s media forms’.
MEDEA: JUST A WOMAN IS A MIGRANT
video | looped | 2024
There is a graffiti in Tbilisi, which depicts a similar image – women going underwater. And according to the information on the attached QR code, this graffiti is also dedicated to the problem of lack of the necessary level of security for women.
If you are a migrant, you can find common ground with a foreign space, but can you occupy it?