Mother/Land (Artpace)
Audiovisual performance featuring projected animation, animatronic sculptures, music, and movement.
Mother/Land
Artpace International Artist-in-Residence
Spring 2023
Gallery dimensions: 28’ 10” x 46’ 9”x 15’ 6”
Art by Yuliya Lanina
Sound design by Nina C. Young
Guest curator Gabriela Rangel
In Mother/Land I continue my exploration of the emotional and physical impact of war and trauma, this time addressing the current war in Ukraine. The main feature is an animation of ink drawings I made since the invasion, which moves in a carousel motion to show the dizzying effect of witnessing the war from afar through an endless stream of news and images. The seventeen one eyed poppy flowers (seventeen stands for the age I left Russia) are scattered around the floor, mourning the victims and bearing witness to this senseless and cruel war. In the middle of the flower field stands the mechanical figurine with a rotating drum in its stomach, representing brokenness and the internal processes that arise during stressful times – intense stomach aches, nausea, and illness.
On the wall opposite the animation is a childlike drawing of one eyed girl giving a flower to a large monster. Collaged out of my writings, the girl represents me while the Monster stands in for Mother and Motherland. This “Momster” is at once friendly and scary, as though unsure whether to accept the flower or devour the girl. During the opening night I performed in the costume based on the drawing of the girl a farewell song to the loved one while my twin daughters gave away red tears made out of the same material as the flowers symbolizing the shared experience of pain and healing.
Accompanying the exhibition is a limited-edition book with the drawings used to create the animation on view in the gallery.
>>> Link to two channel projection
>>> Link to one channel projection
Acknowledgements
Theodore Johnson (engineering), Anna Kravets (flower design), Yevgeniy Sharlat (sculpture design), Artpace staff and interns.
Photos by Scott David Gordon and Beth Devillier