The «City Portraits» project (under the «Communities and Associations» section) explores the role of migrant workers in metropolitan life. The artist addresses them as an integral, yet often unseen, urban community that shapes the rhythm and infrastructure of the city. The project raises questions about the boundaries of public attention: whom do we include in the image of the city, and who remains outside of it?
The exhibition is presented as an interactive labyrinth constructed from construction fences, featuring picturesque textile portraits of the figures who symbolize the boundary between what is visible and what is hidden within the megalopolis.
«City Portraits»
I align the «City Portraits» project with the thematic block «Communities and Associations.»
A city is not composed solely of architecture, streets, and infrastructure. It is created daily by people whose presence defines the rhythm of urban life. Among these are migrant workers—without their labor, a modern city cannot be imagined. They build homes, work in shops, raise children, maintain infrastructure, and constantly interact with the city, yet remain almost invisible in its public image.
In this project, I address migrants as a vital urban community without which the existence of a modern metropolis is impossible. Through a series of textile portraits, I pose a question: who do we consider part of the city’s portrait, and who, despite their constant presence, remains outside the public spotlight?
For the exhibition, an installation is proposed using sections of yellow construction fencing assembled into a labyrinth. The construction fence becomes a metaphor for the city—one that is constantly changing, being rebuilt, and perpetually under construction. Simultaneously, it represents a boundary dividing the visible from the hidden, the public from the unnoticed.
The textile portraits of the project’s subjects are displayed on the fence sections, created on banner netting using acrylic paint and taffeta elements.
As the viewer navigates the labyrinth, they gradually encounter the project’s characters.Part of the works will be integrated into the fence labyrinth, while the remaining works can be displayed as freestanding canvases against a wall.
Exhibition Sketch:
The visual concept is built upon the spatial division of a unified body of work. The core of the exhibition is integrated into the volumetric structure of a labyrinth. The autonomous part of the series is displayed on the wall planes—a traditional type of hanging allows these tactile pieces to be presented as independent easel paintings.
Budget
A fence made of 15 sections. The price per section is approximately 1,180 rubles.
This amounts to about 20,000 rubles upon purchase, but the fences can be returned. You can also rent them.
Project Work Examples
«Hush Kelibziz» industrial pipes, banner mesh, embroidery, acrylic 80/50 cm
2023
«Uzbek Portrait» is a continuation of my series of urban portraits on industrial materials, but this diptych also incorporates taffeta embroidery in addition to the handwork.
The embroideries were created across a span from 2022 to the present. All of them are portraits of metropolitan city dwellers—migrants.
The photographs feature fragments of textile towels for the «City Portraits» project. Four new pieces and three existing ones are planned for creation.
Embroidery sketches currently in progress: