
- Russian born British artist - curator
currently based in the Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, UK
- Artist researching production of spaces that enable communication between human and non-human beings
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
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
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