Photography, inkjet pigment printing,
2025–2026
This project explores the tension between care and possession. Focusing on fragmented urban spaces where the earth is covered—as if protected, yet simultaneously excluded—the series of photographs transforms everyday scenes into a critical commentary on the nature of ownership.This covering is a dual gesture: on one hand, it is an act of preservation; on the other, it is an act of extraction and submission. The project addresses the biopolitical and ecological aspects of contemporary life, questioning: is it possible to care for the land without owning it? In an era of environmental alienation, the work restores visibility to the ground, becoming a visual form of reflection on boundaries, rights, and new forms of participation.
This project investigates the tension between care and possession.
A significant element of the series is the diptych, assembled as an attempt to unify different fragments of a concealed surface into a single landscape. Continuing the lines and forms, the images nearly coincide, yet a discernible «seam» or mismatch always remains between them—a discrepancy that prevents the viewer from fully accepting this wholeness. This rupture becomes a visual expression of the dual nature of the concealing gesture, simultaneously linked to care and possession.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau saw the root of inequality in private property, especially in the right to land ownership. At that very moment, he believed, when a person first built a fence and declared, «This land belongs to me and to me alone, ” all forms of authority and all the troubles they brought with them began. // From the article „David Graber and David Vengrow: How (and) Cities Arose, ” 2022
ORGANIZATION AND SUBORDINATION PROCESSES (CATEGORY):
The project examines care as one mechanism for organizing space. Temporary earth sheltering becomes not just an act of preservation, but a method of landscape management, where care and control prove inseparable. Through photography, the project addresses how urban and natural territories acquire new meanings as a result of everyday practices of organization, regulation, and appropriation.
The project was first presented in 2025 at the Art Space Hopping festival and subsequently exhibited in the artist’s solo show at the «Otkhodniki» gallery.
In 2026, the series was expanded with new photographic works and continues to evolve. Currently, work is underway on the final exhibition version of the project: the series structure is being refined, some works are being framed for museum display, and the exhibition layout is being developed.
Potential support will allow for the completion of the project for presentation in its most current form.We plan to frame three to five pairs of diptychs in glass frames. A cost estimate from the «Ptichka» print shop has been provided.
3 diptychs = 32,100 RUB.
5 diptychs = 53,500 RUB.