Born 1986 in Kiev, Ukraine. Resident in Prague. Painting.
For me, quarantine became a time when I rethought many things – my attitude to life, to work, to creativity, to my family and friends.
Mariko Gelman
All my artworks during the quarantine period are organized around the theme of personal myth-making, the interpenetration of social religious discourse and the individual position of the subject.
Do we need a scheme of life given from the outside? Is its shape important? Or can we rely on our inner psychic structures and be responsible for making decisions?
I have been living in Prague for four years now. When the quarantine began, I was being treated in Ukraine (I have a disability, and once a year I undergo a special course of IVs in the hospital). For almost half a year I could not go to Prague to see my husband. But it was a great time to restart relationship with my mom. I worked hard and created several series of works. For me, quarantine became a time when I rethought many things – my attitude to life, to work, to creativity, to my family and friends. I have taken part in many art projects, in charity auctions. Now I have returned home and continue to work on new artworks.
Since the ninth century, the weapon of Cain in English vernacular accounts of the first murder is the jaw-bone of an ass. Paradoxically, the boomerang of shortsightedness, narcissism and consumerist attitude to being was launched thousands of years ago, and is still a representative of human nature.
Art project #365daysafter