I am Usual Woman
The project I Am Usual Woman is presented as an installation of several pieces: a quilt, a tapestry with sound piece and the video, all on the one subject matter.
QUILT:
Quilt is stitched with a pattern called Double Wedding Rings. The pattern was traditionally used for a trousseau quilt made by bride’s female relatives. The used photographs were found on the matrimonial websites specially created for Russian women to find a Western husband. The images for the quilt are carefully selected from the ones which were shown on these websites as ‘the best samples’ of how women should be photographed for the best matchmaking. This work investigates the women’s role in cross-cultural marriage and fantasies the Russian women as well as Western men have about the women's’ role in it. I am interested to question the relevance of traditions and old values nowadays taking into consideration the new opportunities the globalization can offer. (Quilt, stitched from photographs printed on cotton satin. 170 x 170 cm, an unique piece.)
VIDEO PIECE - Birch Trees of Russia
The images were collected from the matrimonial websites specially created for Russian women to find a Western husband. Almost every woman on these websites has her photograph next to a birch tree, which is a symbol of Russian culture often associated with a female character. The presented selection compiles ‘the Russianness’ which women try to demonstrate for the Western viewers.
Accompanied song is a pop chanson piece is entitled ‘Birch Trees of Russia’ (‘Березы России’) and performed by a singer Eugene Ross (Евгений Росс). This is one of the songs which is popular between the common people in Russia and can be heard everywhere: as background music in the convenience stores up to the weddings or parties. (Video piece. Single monitor video, colour 4:3 with sound, 3:16 min)
TAPESTRY PIECE: - Fifty / Fifty
The work fuses new media and traditional craft to tell a story of a Russian woman who pursues her dreams in the West. Tapestry is a hand-made unfinished embroidered canvas is based on a photograph I took to depict the woman’s idea of what she was searching for on the matrimonial websites. The technique I used, a cross-stitching, was a widely spread and up until the second part of the 20th century was mostly used by working class women to decorate domestic cloths for daily use or a dowry, or by middle-class women for their own pleasure and pastime. As an artist, who did hard labour on this art piece during six months, I could relate to the sacrifice and labour this woman had to put into her immigration process. The tapestry is accompanied by a sound piece, the woman’s monologue, which was restaged and edited to keep the woman’s identity anonymous. The sound piece opens up complexity of the marriage for the Russian woman with an English man and dilemmas she faces on her journey to her dream. Working with combination of traditional crafts and new technologies, I tend to query a place of women in contemporary society within rooted traditions such as marriage and intercultural stereotypes. I am interested in how women from different cultures have been affected by new global developments such as greater and cheaper mobility, the spread of Westernization and easy access to information. (The work consist of an cross-stitched tapestry (152 x 180 cm, unique piece) and a sound piece (stereo, 13min). The sound piece can be played from here: https://soundcloud.com/mariakapajeva/fifty-fifty ).
QUILT:
Quilt is stitched with a pattern called Double Wedding Rings. The pattern was traditionally used for a trousseau quilt made by bride’s female relatives. The used photographs were found on the matrimonial websites specially created for Russian women to find a Western husband. The images for the quilt are carefully selected from the ones which were shown on these websites as ‘the best samples’ of how women should be photographed for the best matchmaking. This work investigates the women’s role in cross-cultural marriage and fantasies the Russian women as well as Western men have about the women's’ role in it. I am interested to question the relevance of traditions and old values nowadays taking into consideration the new opportunities the globalization can offer. (Quilt, stitched from photographs printed on cotton satin. 170 x 170 cm, an unique piece.)
VIDEO PIECE - Birch Trees of Russia
The images were collected from the matrimonial websites specially created for Russian women to find a Western husband. Almost every woman on these websites has her photograph next to a birch tree, which is a symbol of Russian culture often associated with a female character. The presented selection compiles ‘the Russianness’ which women try to demonstrate for the Western viewers.
Accompanied song is a pop chanson piece is entitled ‘Birch Trees of Russia’ (‘Березы России’) and performed by a singer Eugene Ross (Евгений Росс). This is one of the songs which is popular between the common people in Russia and can be heard everywhere: as background music in the convenience stores up to the weddings or parties. (Video piece. Single monitor video, colour 4:3 with sound, 3:16 min)
TAPESTRY PIECE: - Fifty / Fifty
The work fuses new media and traditional craft to tell a story of a Russian woman who pursues her dreams in the West. Tapestry is a hand-made unfinished embroidered canvas is based on a photograph I took to depict the woman’s idea of what she was searching for on the matrimonial websites. The technique I used, a cross-stitching, was a widely spread and up until the second part of the 20th century was mostly used by working class women to decorate domestic cloths for daily use or a dowry, or by middle-class women for their own pleasure and pastime. As an artist, who did hard labour on this art piece during six months, I could relate to the sacrifice and labour this woman had to put into her immigration process. The tapestry is accompanied by a sound piece, the woman’s monologue, which was restaged and edited to keep the woman’s identity anonymous. The sound piece opens up complexity of the marriage for the Russian woman with an English man and dilemmas she faces on her journey to her dream. Working with combination of traditional crafts and new technologies, I tend to query a place of women in contemporary society within rooted traditions such as marriage and intercultural stereotypes. I am interested in how women from different cultures have been affected by new global developments such as greater and cheaper mobility, the spread of Westernization and easy access to information. (The work consist of an cross-stitched tapestry (152 x 180 cm, unique piece) and a sound piece (stereo, 13min). The sound piece can be played from here: https://soundcloud.com/mariakapajeva/fifty-fifty ).
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