ORDINARY MARTYRESSES

18.06.2015 — 02.07,2015
Artists: Ales Kochevnik, Varvara Tereshenko, Vlad Dobrovolsky, Irina Petrakova, Leta Dobrovolskaya, Leyli Aslanova, Lita Polyakova, Natalia Petrova    
Center “Red”, Moscow

What’s the meaning of an exhibition that presents a private diary, for instance? How should we react to art that is based on the artistic representation of the female body and/or genitalia by the female artist? How should we treat the pictorial interpretation of femicide, domestic violence and self-representation on the internet? How can minimalistic objects tell us about the specific nature of female existence? And to what extent can these different artistic comments about female existence be defined as feministic art, if some of the artists do not have a feministic position? 

It is impossible to answer all of these questions in one small exhibition, however it is possible to approach these sensitive issues critically. Together with the participants of the exhibition we have created a kind of “horror room” of the female experience, showing how the life of a woman is connected with violence, painful physiology, loneliness and self-agression. What is so peculiar about these works? Do they have a particular political (=feministic) statement? 

Ilmira Bolotyan