Born 1994 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photography art.
I was not the only one who “fell out” of the usual contexts…
Nastya Didenko
During the lockdown, I still had the opportunity to visit my studio as it is within half of hour by feet from my home. However, I have lost a job and most of the profits, it was difficult trying to work at the usual pace, because the basic needs (rent, daily expenses, etc.) were not fulfilled, not mentioning the cost of studio rent and cost of materials to work in it .
Lockdown also affected the general mood around, I was not the only one who “fell out” of the usual contexts, so the question of the expediency of creating artworks became especially acute. So in technical way the photography has become more useful media because I already had the camera and started use it more often in creative works.
“Do not play with your food”, Digital photography, 30×40 cm, photo paper print 20pcs, 2020 Installation, 40x50cm, 2020 The photo series arose as a result of the author’s reflections on her’s own work as a ecommerce photographer and a visual study of “food” traumas caused by the Soviet and postSoviet food cult. Food should not be played with, it is forbidden to throw away or leave uneaten etc – these rules were learned in childhood. The feeling of shame is still present if food is thrown away or spoiled – the shame ingrained from parents, grandmothers who had their own traumas due to war, hunger etc. In this project I purposely turned photography into a playing process, rethinking the objects in the frame and separating them from the initial “inviolability” of the food product, which I will throw away later. Building a pyramids out of bread and vegetables, using it as a constructor, I wanted to give them a new context, different from childhood memories and artificially imposed.
“Bad omen” Photography, photo paper print, 30x40cm, 8pcs, 2021 “Broken, but suitable” Wood, mixed media, 100x75cm, 2021 “Bad luck?” Wood, ceramics, 100x100cm, 2021 “No title” Ceramics, 30×60 cm, 2021 The project is a visual illustration of the well-known omens and superstitions associated with broken things. Apparently, in addition to salad fish shaped bowls each one also received many unconscious omens from their grandmothers. Such as: “do not look in the broken mirror”, “do not keep broken things, because fate will be beaten”, “look in the mirror when you return home for a forgotten thing”, etc. Such statements are familiar and inconspicuous. These irrationalisms are aimed to protect from disaster and are an attempt to master the uncontrollable, independent of human action processes, but takes the form of obsessional neuroses. What are the omens as common rooted OCD? Personally, I thought about it in the period of “bad events”, when you are not able to control the flow of unpleasant happenings around and you inventing actions which can be done so the misfortunes does not happen, or happens less. The emotional tension and unhealthiness of such states works in an inversely proportional direction: the more superstitions – the more they are needed to explain the surrounding processes. The objects in the project illustrate certain omens and at the same time are an “unwanted” manifestation of them, as it contains broken things that should not be stored. In this way, I’m trying, though not without fear, to dispose of imposed and unhealthy method of dealing with the surrounding and personal experiences.
Art project #365daysafter