Martyrs
Installation, approximately 300х240х160. Fabric, cardboard, paper, liners, ink, varnish, papier-mâché, wire, bread, slime, glass, acrylic, acrylic paste, earth, plate, lanterns.
The Martyrs series operates at the intersection of speculative hagiography, dark romanticism, and decolonial queer somatics. Re-framing the concept of martyrdom outside canonical religious dogma, the project approaches the suffering body not as an instrument of divine submission, but as a site of radical vulnerability, desire, and quiet political refusal.
Constructed as precarious structures—utilizing fragile, ephemeral mediums such as raw paper, delicate tracing paper, cardboard, and ink—the works physically embody the transience and vulnerability of marginalized existence. Tracing paper, with its semi-transparent and ghostly quality, allows layers of anatomy, text, and myth to overlap, creating a visual effect of historical haunting: figures appear partially concealed, neither fully erased nor entirely present.
Drawing heavily on the aesthetic of dark romanticism, the series invokes a mythic, shadow-laden iconography where sanctity belongs to the abject, the criminal, and the queer body. By executing these figures through unstable, "poor" materials, the project rejects the monumental permanence of state and religious power. Here, the fragile cardboard and torn paper become a somatic metaphor for survival—holding together a choir of dubious, fragmented voices that refuse to be unified or silenced.
Antigone
Graphic. Ink and liners on cardboard. 70 x 100 cm.
+ + +
dig the three-handed antigone
we swept away the dust and exposed
unfortunate corpse full of filth
beautifully curvaceous body
from the hymen that burst
thick stream of bile
exchange mechanism occurs in a certain order
carrion infection
the stench of the city of rebellion
we hear the roar of the crowd
you who broke the law! death
haunts you
if you don’t understand humanly, then we will speak differently
and so -
a shadow fell awry on the face of Antigone
and so -
her right hand is hung in the square
and so -
she eats worms and her hair is cut with a knife
and so -
she is all black
dig, polynic, dig deeper
if I disappear, you know where to look for the roots
entering the cave, they find only a silk belt
Al-Hallaj
Graphic. Ink and liners on cardboard. 70 x 100 cm.
mansour al-hallaj cotton comber will
spend eleven years in a Baghdad prison
before the representatives of the law ask him:
what is love?
you will know about it
the next day
and also on the second day
and also on the third day
the next day
they cut off his arms and legs
but all its members continued to whisper
I am the absolute truth
I am the absolute truth
I am the absolute truth
and on the second day
he got his head cut off
but the flowing blood kept on screaming
I am the absolute truth
I am the absolute truth
I am the absolute truth
and also on the third day
they burned his body and scattered the ashes over the waters of the Tigris river
but the ashes of his body wrote the name of Allah on the water
ana-l-haqq
ana-l-haqq
ana-l-haqq
I am the absolute truth
I am the absolute truth
I am the absolute truth
Fallen man
The reverse side of the fallen man
The Breads
Related:
Bureaucracy of Miracles
Installations, interactive digital works, texts, video etc. Includes both interactive virtual exhibition and physical representation along with some documentation.
Bureaucracy of Miracles' Exhibition, Samara
October 1-22, 2023. OSSI MI, Samara, Russia The project was presented in the form of a journey that begins with a scene - Hellin's Square - depicting either an apocalyptic scene of a fall into hell, or a revolutionary act. The journey included several locations where the viewer could get acquainted with either the virtual part of the project or the physical exhibition. These points were: the Revolution Square, the Museum of the Literature, a tram, a forest with a swamp, an apartment gallery on the outskirts of Samara. Curator: Ilya Mikh eev Travel modera tor: Snezhana Mikheeva Bot developer: Ksenia Kovshova Photos: Dima Ptitsyn
Fallen man
Installation. Sizes vary. Cardboard, liners, ink, varnish, paper, acrylic paste, wire ties, cellophane, glass, butterfly, 2021.