Zhanna Kadyrova
from the series ‘Anxiety’, 2022–2024, embroidery on fabric, 34,5 x 29 cm, 30 x 39 cm, 33 x 50 cm, 71 x 61 cm, 73 x 49 cm, 53 x 35 cm, 31 x 47 cm, 51 x 36 cm, 34,5 x 29 cm, 40 x 48 cm
Zhanna works with sculpture, mosaic, photography, video, installation and performance. In her practice, she focuses on local contexts and interactions with a place and people. She creates monumental sculptures and installations from materials often found directly on site—ceramics, tiles or concrete. Working with communities, her constant observation of the present, of processes and of the dynamics of change, as well as her quick responses to them, are components of her creative method.
The series ‘Anxiety’ refers to the permanent state in which Ukrainians have lived since the invasion. In Ukrainian, the word ‘тривога’ means both an inner state—anxiety—and a signal of danger—an air-raid alert. During air-raid alerts in Ukraine, an audio message with warnings and instructions on how to protect oneself is broadcast. Those who live in Ukraine or who have been there during the raids know the depressing and unsettling impression made by the alarm signal and the words of the announcement that interrupt the daily routine. This ‘intervention’ of the alarm reminds us that even in places far from the front line, one can never feel safe.
The works in this series combine hand and machine embroidery; the text ‘Повітряна тривога’ (‘air-raid alert’, literally ‘air anxiety’) is stitched onto decorative embroidered pictures, once used to adorn interiors in rural areas. Kadyrova expanded the series by incorporating traditional materials from the countries where she worked and exhibited. In these works, distant meanings and contexts collide—warnings of danger and a decorative object of calm, sentimental and naïve aesthetics. The sense of irreconcilability between different realities is heightened when Zhanna draws on the languages and landscapes of countries where war has not arrived yet—anxiety, like war, can spread anywhere.
