Artist Talk with Zhanna Kadyrova

From the very beginning, Kadyrova’s practice has been linked to various disciplines such as sculpture, photography, video, performance. It is characterized by a thorough focus on the place and space of the exhibition. In her work, the problem of context unravels to reveal the rhythm of History in Motion - that of a world whose multiple layers disappear behind its immediacy. Often deviating from the aesthetic canons of the socialist ideal still present in the legacy of modern Ukraine, Kadyrova’s perspective is partially informed by the plastic and symbolic values ​​of urban building materials. Thus, ceramics, glass, stone and concrete fall into the spotlight of her creativity. 

Kadyrova was working on several specific projects when Russia’s war against Ukraine began in February 2022. This drastically changed all her plans. From her new home in the Carpathian Mountains, she began work on the humanitarian project PALIANYTSIA, which has already been exhibited around the world (Italy, Germany, Norway, Japan, France, USA, Sweden, Austria, Georgia, Romania, Thailand, and India). Zhanna returned to Kiev to create works about the war, which were presented as part of her first major retrospective, opened at the Kunstverein Hannover (Germany). Another major exhibition “Flying Trajectories” was shown at the Pinchuk Art Center in Kyiv (Ukraine) from June 2023.

“Art is perceived as a ’civilized activity’”, she said at the time. “Well, war is uncivilized, a matter of brutal killing and raping, and nothing the civilized world has created, such as dialogue, helps. I use real violence to create art,” (Quote from Charlotte Higgins’ article “This is our reality’: Ukrainian artist puts bomb-torn roads into gallery”, The Guardian, 30/10/2023) https://www.theguardian.com/.../ukrainian-artist-bomb...

 

More at www.kadyrova.com