"The Space Between" 2007-2008
The haunting feeling of dislocation and alienation in any place I live (due to several immigrations) was the main inspiration to create a series of contained spaces that represent my attempt to find my own identity. This search certainly has no chance of resolution, in the same way Jacques Lacan has argued the impossibility of fulfilling the sense of wholeness throughout life. Similarly to every child’s loss of continuity and wholeness with the mother, I lost the sense of wholeness with my homeland. All my connections to it are strictly imaginary. When it comes to reality, my attempts to get myself some sense of belonging appear desirable, but impossible. In the series The Space Between I created a number of rooms that metaphorically represent my internal space. These are psychological, symbolic spaces that touch on several aspects of my identity in the form of fantasy. By transforming entirely the same room (my studio) over and over again, I go through different states of mind.
One of the main subjects in this series is nature, as it is the only common thing that unifies every place in world. My own relation to nature could never be based in reality as I have spent all my life in urban conditions. The only connection to it, I find through my memories of the small Ukrainian village where my grand parents used to live, surrounded by forests, lakes and fields. There, everything seems magically beautiful, close and distant at the same time. This awkward connection, which is simultaneously fake and real, is one of the main aspects I explore in “The Space Between” series. I have decided to merge the lines between the internal and external spaces. Instead of going to nature I have brought it into my constructed world.
"Entrance" 2008 - is a mixed media, sculptural sound installation that was created as part of "The Space Between" project. The song is being sung in an imaginary language.
