Exhibition Project ‘Bloods and Roots’
The project of the personal exhibition ‘Bloods and Roots’ became the reflection on the sources of one’s own blood, on the belonging to the phantom of the ‘national’, to the piece of land, to the territory of any country.
The exhibition took place in ‘Borey’ Art Centre in St. Petersburg from 17th to 25th of June, 2022.
The expo consists of four halls, each having a Slavic name: the first hall is called ‘Plat’ — this is an old Russian word meaning ‘a scarf’. The second one is called ‘Shvya’, a Belorussian word meaning ‘stitches’. The third one is called by a Polish word ‘Żywy’ (alive) and the fourth — by a Ukrainian word ‘Udoma’, meaning ‘at home’.
Pictures of the four exposition halls
The main tools for creating the exposition objects are the beetroot, the earth and white cloth. The exhibition name is the wordplay. Beetroot is a root crop, deep red as blood, both blood and root. Whose blood? The blood of the earth where it grows from. Some exhibition objects develop this wordplay transmitting it into the figurative game with the ‘national’.
The exhibition entrance
‘Plat’, the First Hall
Exposition of the first hall ‘Plat’
The objects in the first hall are the white cloths with the spots of crushed beetroots resembling scarfs or carpets. ‘Plat’ is an old name of the scarf, a four-cornered piece of cloth; a blessed dark-red scarf for wiping the mouth after the sacrament. Also the hall hosts the artefact of the performance ‘I am of this or that blood’ for the concentration of the color and creating of intense.
Artefact of the performance ‘I am of this or that blood’
A work of ’Plat’ series
The Second Hall, ‘Shvya’
Exposition of the second hall ‘Shvya’
‘Shvya’ translated from the Belorussian means stitches. The stitch on the earth is the key installation of the second hall. Its rhythm is a photo where a man with beetroot vertebrae under his shirt adhered to the earth.
The large hall with the minimum of objects is a pause in the exposition’s dynamics.
Photos from ‘Vertebrae’ series.
‘The Earth Stitch’ Installation. A table, earth, cotton, threads. 300 cm/ 70 cm/ 100 cm
‘The Earth Stitch’, Installation Fragment.
The Third Hall, ‘Żywy’
‘I am of this or that blood’, performance / ‘Red Calico as you Wish’, installation
The hall ‘Żywy’ (Polish — ‘alive’) presents the installation ‘Red Calico as you Wish’ consisting of the shirts made dirty with beetroot. Another object in the hall is the performance ‘I am of this or that blood’. The third hall becomes a visual dominant within the exhibition evolution.
‘Red Calico as you Wish’ Installation. Eight white shirts, boiled beetroot.
The Fourth Hall, ‘Udoma’
«Udoma» is translated from Ukrainian as ’at home’. The final hall is dedicated to the reflections on one’s home as of the roots of the blood, life, as well as to death — the state of being separated from home.
The hall hosts three objects none of which has a red color dominant — the exposition conclusion.
‘It would be good to put the legs into water at home after the heat’, an object
‘Under the blanket’, an object. A blanket cover, earth. 200cm/150 cm
‘Has ingrown’, an object. A boot, beetroot roots.
The documentation on the exhibition opening
