Anna Samoilova. Non-milk Automatic translate

MMOMA Young Art Support Program Curator: Daria Kamyshnikova

The Moscow Museum of Modern Art and the Free Workshops School of Contemporary Art present Anna Samoilova’s project Nemoloko, which tells the story of the most difficult period in the artist’s life - the period of pregnancy and childbirth. The exhibition is part of the MMOMA Young Art Support Program.

The central element of the exhibition "Nemoloko" is the fabric, which is literally assembled into one large textile mosaic - in the first hall it is a "blanket" object, in the second a series of engravings on fabric. The symbolic scarlet glows from all of Anna’s canvases, and the works themselves reveal everything that is most intimate and fragile, telling the dramatic personal story of childbirth in the era of a global pandemic. The images and narratives of the first hall record the successive transformations of one’s own body during pregnancy. A series of self-portraits and self-portrait objects - three Venuses - reveals internal and external changes up to the loss of one’s own "I", reducing the personality to the function of growing, bearing. The recognizable visual language of the artist, with a figurative system referring to archaic fertility cults, extends an important symbolic thread to the ritual,

Thus, the exhibition "Nemoloko", removing the stigma from the first-person story about the experience of pregnancy and childbirth, will serve as the bridge that, by combining different, sometimes happy, and sometimes scary or tragic experiences, will help to start talking about the most personal and intimate, without fear. condemnation.

The idea of ​​reflection of the collective female experience, as in the past large exhibition project of Anya Samoilova - "Mokosh", is implemented in this exhibition through the website https://womanscanvas.ru/, through which anyone can share their personal story.

About the artist

Anna Samoilova (b. 1995, Moscow) lives and works in Moscow. Graduate of the Moscow Academic Art School in memory of 1905 (2017) and the British Higher School of Design (2020). In search of national identity, Anna Samoilova explores the culture of the Russian village, life, customs and costumes, interpreting them in her works. An important place in Anna’s work is occupied by the figure of a Russian woman - analyzing her place in society now and "then", the artist raises existential questions of women’s fears, desires and the struggle for their rights.

About the School of Contemporary Art "Free Workshops"

The Free Workshops School of Contemporary Art is the educational platform of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art for young artists and curators. The school was founded in 1992 by a group of artists and art critics, including Alexander Ponomarev, Vladimir Kupriyanov, Vladimir Nasedkin, professors of Moscow State University Vera Dazhina and Valery Turchin. At the School, students have the opportunity to learn from the best teachers, successful cultural figures, famous philosophers and theorists of contemporary art. During the training, young artists and curators immerse themselves in the artistic world by participating in master classes, group exhibitions, and festivals. As part of the Museum, the Free Workshops offer students a unique opportunity to explore the theoretical and practical aspects of contemporary art from its epicenter.