- Russian born British artist - curator

  currently based in the Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, UK

I am a visual artist with background in anthropology with a long term interest in the study of Sentient Landscapes

The idea is to visualise landscapes as perceived by those who live within the rhythms of the land and who are dependent upon the wellbeing of the non-human persons around them.

Since 2021, I have been working on the project with nomadic pasturalists of Tyva, South Siberia, Russia. Tyva is geographically located in the Altai-Sayan mountain range, where  nomadic pasturalists herd reindeer in the north; horses, sheep & goats in the steppes; and camels. horses, sheep & goats in the south that boarders Mongolia. After the fall of Soviet regime in the 1990s, Tyvan pasturalists revived their old traditions with the help of the very few still leaving elders. Their old songs and stories are teaching the young how to live sustainably. Mountains, lakes, springs and certain areas of landscape are believed to be spirited and are communicated with.

My area of research however, is the horse herders of Tyva. It is the land where horses were first domesticated and where they are believed to be the creatures who communicate with the forces of nature.

My aim is to depict the way people perceive their lives with horses as they reinvent their culture of sustainable nomadic living after the soviet times. 

The story is double sided though. In drawing perception of the horse herders, I can't miss out the way the environment is being perceived by the herded horses. This is why in this project I'm collaborating with a renowned equine ethologist Lucy Rees, who is helping me to understand lives of horses in Tyva. 

I have met Lucy Rees in 2021, when after reading her book, I've contacted her asking for an art residency with her and the wild Pottoka horses she is researching in Extramadura mountains, in Spain. 

Before meeting Lucy, in the early 2021 and throughout the covid-lockdowns, I mostly painted home-grown flowers, drew tortoises and members of my family. 

Before covid, from 2018 to 2019 I worked on the Landscapes of Play project, a series of paintings that focused on the way children learn by playing in nature.

2019 was also the year when I closed my 5th Base gallery in London. I've started 5th Base in 2012 as a gallery for hire where any artist could exhibit their work at an affordable flat fee. And I used 5th Base for personal curatorial projects, such us Ornamental Status,I, II, III, 5th Base Film Nights and personal exhibitions. 

In 2017-2018 I worked on The Visual Diary of a Mother, which was exhibited as part of The Womens History Month 2018 and was kindly digitized at the Courtauld Institute. 

Before that, I worked on a series of pairings depicting life of a mother in London.

For projects before that, please check my Gallery.

Experience

Solo Exhibitions

2019: Of Apples and Trees, 5th Base Gallery, London 

2018: New Works, 5th Base Gallery, London

2018: Visual Diary of a Mother, 5th Base Gallery, London

2017: New Works, 5th Base Gallery, London

2007: Drawn Together, Peoples' Centre, Liverpool

2006: Making Invisible Visible, Unity Theatre, Liverpool Biannual '06,  Liverpool

2004: Diana Krilova New Works, with Independents, Unity Theatre, Liverpool Biannual'04, Liverpool

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Selected Group Shows

2022: Stand with Ukraine, Hales Gallery, London

2021: Equivision, Piornal Casa de Cultura, Extremadura, Spain

2018: Symbiosis, part of Chelsea Fringe, curated by Tania Beaumont, Espacio Gallery, London

2018: New Works, curated by Ana Cockerill, Espacio Gallery, London

2017: The Need to Doodle, curated by Sumer Erek, 5th Base Gallery, London

2016: The Stories They Told, 5th Base Gallery, London

2011: KIOO Festival, Vibe, London

2008: Beatabet Alphabet, Brighton Fringe, Brighton

2008: The Painted Face, Orleans House Gallery, London

2007: Summer Open, Waterloo Gallery, London

2007: Arts Unwrapped, Mother Studios, London

2006: History and Identity, Primo Piano Livin Gallery, Lecce, Italy

2005: Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead, Liverpool

2005: Character, Unity Theatre, Liverpool

2005: The Art of Love, Oxo Tower / Bargehouse, London

2004: 10x10, Egg Space, Liverpool Biannual'04, Liverpool

2003: Wandering Star, Egg Space, Liverpool

2003: EYA03, CDA Fine Art, Birmingham

2003: Experiences, Unity Theatre, Liverpool

2002: Nat'e, View2 Gallery, Liverpool

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Projects

2012-2019: Founder and Director of 5th Base Gallery, London 

2015: curator at Krilova Stelfox Gallery, London

2013-2014: curator of 5th Base Film Nights at 5th Base Gallery, London

2010: art director of short fiction film Partygirl (dir James Gutierrez)

2006: artist, restoration of murals at Capilla del Dulce Nombre de la Hermandad de la Veracruz, Seville

2004: leader of art history workshops, Tate Liverpool