Dasha Chechushkova
‘Mara’, from ‘The Fire Book’ series, 2022, textile, 600 x 150 cm. ‘Sweet Dreams Foundation’ residency, Nida Art Colony, Lithuania
Dasha works with a range of approaches and media—installation, objects, performance, painting, drawing, photography, video, embroidery and poetry. Her practice centres on the exploration of memory, engaging with recollections, monuments, states of liminality and practices of honouring tradition. Although she employs many different media, the diary-notebook remains the main and central element around which Dasha’s projects unfold. The practice of diary-keeping, existing on the border between art and everyday life, is something possible in almost any situation.
The work ‘Mara’ was created in the fourth month of the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, at Nida Art Colony in Lithuania, during a residency organised by the Sweet Dreams Foundation (curated by Lesya Kulchytska). It forms part of the ‘Eco-Renaissance’ cycle of projects that Dasha has been working on since 2020. These projects are arranged into thematic series—’The Air Book’, ‘The Earth Book’ and ‘The Water Book’. ‘Mara’ belongs to ‘The Fire Book’—the first project to emerge since the start of the full-scale war. ‘The Book’ comprises a series of white textile works, along with a performance and video essays. White plays a central role in this work. Dasha interprets both the fabric itself and the colour in metaphorical terms. The textiles refer to the image of the body and corporeality, while the stitch signifies the interweaving of experiences. White is the colour of shock and erasure, of grief and trauma. At the same time, it is the colour of the missing, the unnamed, the unmanifested and the unidentified, of those of whom nothing is said, the colour of victims. ‘Mara’ carries multiple layers of meaning. This monumental dress, which also alludes to the image of death, symbolises the nocturnal terror that gives rise to sleep paralysis. It appears in moments of rest and tranquillity, reminding of/ warning against the growing threat and misfortune. The work, created in Nida, Lithuania, also draws on the image of a giantess–saviour from a local legend. In 2022, ‘Mara’ was presented to international audiences as both a reminder and a warning. Dasha states that since then, its central message has remained unchanged.
