Motherhood on Multimedia

Artist’s Statement

I work in the realm of digital materiality, creating objects through interwoven digital processing, evoking the unity of the material and the digital while exploring postfeminist identity. I am interested in creating iconographic taxonomies that transcend the idea of the mothering body, moving it into visually exquisite and grotesque constructions: mothers in production, queer and playful embryos and embryo carriers, ancient and omnipotent cyborgs. I work across multiple materialities as well as in projection and augmentation: on screens, in video monitors, via mobile devices. I draw, digitize, animate, laser-cut plastic, plasma-cut steel, embroider, print, dye, audio score, construct, project.

The pandemic brought new concepts into my practice: “liquidity” and the “archetypical,” both functioning as survival mechanisms. “Liquidity” focuses on connectivity and the visceral experience of embrace, and it channels the feeling of security and being nurtured. The “archetypical” incorporates an exploration of mythology, which connects me back to my Russian heritage. I muse on mushrooms, mermaids, birches, and raspberries—my “power plants,” powerful signifiers that embody the mythological convergence of nature and culture.

The images in this portfolio represent small details of larger installations from 2012–2019, on topics ranging from the grotesque and motherhood to female Soviet World War II fighter pilots. Three images represent my work as a mother artist directly, with my son, Daniel, as inspiration and collaborator. Daniel’s Dreams (2012) was created for Daniel on his first birthday, and Daniel’s Dreams II (2019) is a collaborative exhibition with Daniel, featuring his artwork, embroidered and animated by me, on the occasion of his eighth birthday. To see more of these installations, including video, use this QR code:

Read more from Issue 19.1.