https://alasavashevich.com Ala Savashevich Thu, 27 Nov 2025 09:23:52 +0000 https://alasavashevich.com en https://alasavashevich.com/Home Wed, 10 Aug 2022 22:17:05 +0000 Ala Savashevich https://alasavashevich.com/Home Ala Savashevich https://alasavashevich.com/Sew-on-your-own Wed, 10 Aug 2022 22:17:07 +0000 Ala Savashevich https://alasavashevich.com/Sew-on-your-own Ala Savashevich Sew on your own Exhibition: “When The Sun Is Low – The Shadows Are Long“&nbsp; june - september, 2022GfZK-Museum of Contemporary Art, Leipzig,&nbsp;GermanyCurator: Anna KarpenkoText: Anna Karpenko Photo: Brigita Kasperaite <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a770f30ca06cb92ce749a77bc7a5b3da5a3de11dfff8fdf580f917edfeaa1594/sew-on-your-own-7.png" data-mid="157894654" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a770f30ca06cb92ce749a77bc7a5b3da5a3de11dfff8fdf580f917edfeaa1594/sew-on-your-own-7.png" /> Aprons (white for festive occasions, black for everyday use) were a permanent feature of Soviet school uniform. Made from a standard pattern, they had a special function: to symbolise cleanliness and diligence. The formal starched, white version was designed to emphasise the compliance and helpfulness of the schoolgirls who wore it. Their skin, which was irritated by the rough fabric, was kept out of sight. The idea was that a perfect form results in obedient bodies and subjects. Ala Savashevich is interested in both the protective function of clothing and its role as an instrument of oppression. The apron, made by hand from thousands of braided metal parts, stands for the overwhelming burden of the “image of femininity” ascribed by society. However, it is also a symbol of resistance against the violent, patriarchal “normality” that prevails in many places in social institutions such as the family or school. <img width="1600" height="2400" width_o="1600" height_o="2400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5a00578a51a77a68f7c9acdac41af6ec9c90d7bdd82b99566f4dff1da8397933/sew-on-your-own-9.png" data-mid="157897503" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5a00578a51a77a68f7c9acdac41af6ec9c90d7bdd82b99566f4dff1da8397933/sew-on-your-own-9.png" /> <img width="1600" height="2400" width_o="1600" height_o="2400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9518d9f35e9412b058847c11179912b6975a4b2634fb2b83b510f95d824e42cf/sew-on-your-own-5.png" data-mid="157894650" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9518d9f35e9412b058847c11179912b6975a4b2634fb2b83b510f95d824e42cf/sew-on-your-own-5.png" /> <img width="1600" height="2400" width_o="1600" height_o="2400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0f873f8a2ef8b6963b63f07df7a581731a4d54b6e994f8fd89e52577ee714fcf/sew-on-your-own-6.png" data-mid="157894652" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0f873f8a2ef8b6963b63f07df7a581731a4d54b6e994f8fd89e52577ee714fcf/sew-on-your-own-6.png" /> https://alasavashevich.com/Arm-and-Protect Sat, 02 Dec 2023 09:57:45 +0000 Ala Savashevich https://alasavashevich.com/Arm-and-Protect Ala Savashevich Arm and Protect Solo exhibition: november-january, 2023-202466P Subjective Institution of Culture, Wrocław, PolandCurator: Joanna SokołowskaText: Joanna Sokołowska Photo:&nbsp;Małgorzata Kujda <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6c876cc1ad5e586e9a444bb0227ff8378fd28bde0f46ab21689d4f2d85f5bc85/Ala_Savashevich_Arm_and_Protect_exhibition_view_66P_7.jpg" data-mid="198392098" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6c876cc1ad5e586e9a444bb0227ff8378fd28bde0f46ab21689d4f2d85f5bc85/Ala_Savashevich_Arm_and_Protect_exhibition_view_66P_7.jpg" /><img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b008dd76689b196b9ce2b38baf0fdd7d88518314c2551de8b469a74e08ea43b0/Ala_Savashevich_Arm_and_Protect_exhibition_view_66P_9.jpg" data-mid="198392206" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b008dd76689b196b9ce2b38baf0fdd7d88518314c2551de8b469a74e08ea43b0/Ala_Savashevich_Arm_and_Protect_exhibition_view_66P_9.jpg" /> Arm and Protect is an exhibition about the exploitation and reclaiming of the body by persons forced into women’s social roles. However, in Ala Savashevich’s series of new works, no bodies are directly visible. The artist confronts the traces of forces that seemingly operate “beyond the periphery of the skin”[1]: in global and local markets, in offices and fields, at the assembly line, in services, families, schools, churches. Dispersed and omnipresent for generations, they break backs and bend necks. They suck out vital forces and take away life itself. They enforce repetitive gestures or unnatural stillness. They prohibit the expression of emotions and the pursuit of one’s needs, teaching instead how to conform to the needs of others. But up to a point. <img width="2400" height="1599" width_o="2400" height_o="1599" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bbc0cf862b87daee6ee9e8ecb7c5d2659bf536eb90d1fcbfe25d0cbc8345248b/Ala_Savashevich_Arm_and_Protect_exhibition_view_66P_3.jpg" data-mid="198392094" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/bbc0cf862b87daee6ee9e8ecb7c5d2659bf536eb90d1fcbfe25d0cbc8345248b/Ala_Savashevich_Arm_and_Protect_exhibition_view_66P_3.jpg" /> The objects prepared for the exhibition have been inspired by the tools and materials used daily by women trained for hard work, serving and obedience – in exchange for social acceptance. Some of them hide echoes of the artist’s personal story, connected with her education in a Belarusian school. In the classes called Труд (toil) in Russian, schoolgirls were taught to do housework, including sewing, making handicraft ornaments and gifts. As in many other schools in authoritarian and patriarchal societies, they were taught a double lesson: the gender division of labour and gender as a role to be played. The decorative, floral costume worn for the women’s performance was meant to mask real hardship and make life more pleasant for others.The artist worked through the memory of her school assignments in the object Sew It Yourselves. Using hundreds of small metal rings, she “wove” a heavy form resembling an apron-cum-armour. She used the same method to make the chainmail sashes (Miss Worker, Miss Best Worker, Miss Home Worker), which touch on deeply rooted sexist patterns by alluding to female shock workers’ decoration in Soviet countries and the sashes worn by winners of beauty pageants. Created as a result of strenuous, long-lasting labour, the objects emphatically show the real burden carried by the body in connection with fulfilling the role of a woman. On the other hand, as their form suggests, they can be transformed from tools of oppression into arms or armour. <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f88611851879e34bf7260e2b62c537d5377eab79974425199718ccdefecbbfff/Ala_Savashevich_Arm_and_Protect_exhibition_view_66P_1.jpg" data-mid="198392092" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f88611851879e34bf7260e2b62c537d5377eab79974425199718ccdefecbbfff/Ala_Savashevich_Arm_and_Protect_exhibition_view_66P_1.jpg" /><img width="1600" height="2400" width_o="1600" height_o="2400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9120c23ba7caec068de3a9628c84495c661a051a337a514082b85674a126d4d2/Ala_Savashevich_Arm_and_Protect_exhibition_view_66P_5.jpg" data-mid="198392096" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9120c23ba7caec068de3a9628c84495c661a051a337a514082b85674a126d4d2/Ala_Savashevich_Arm_and_Protect_exhibition_view_66P_5.jpg" /><img width="2400" height="1599" width_o="2400" height_o="1599" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7f49dc6cc8941fbca1f93b3c1bc1560b34a5b2ab5e05da4ad4267220f9f35256/Ala_Savashevich_Arm_and_Protect_exhibition_view_66P_8.jpg" data-mid="198392108" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7f49dc6cc8941fbca1f93b3c1bc1560b34a5b2ab5e05da4ad4267220f9f35256/Ala_Savashevich_Arm_and_Protect_exhibition_view_66P_8.jpg" /> A similar dynamic of associations is set in motion by a series of objects resembling shields, which the artist made using the decorative technique of straw marquetry. The “shields” combine military camouflage patterns with the floral imagery. This “feminine” symbol of many revolutions acquired a topical significance during the 2020 uprising in Belarus, when women took to the streets en masse with flowers, forming chains of solidarity and calling on the uniformed services to stop the violence. Although the revolution was suppressed, the women’s peaceful protest demonstrated the existence of a great collective force, hitherto ignored. In the intergenerational memory of women’s capacity to confront the burden of patriarchy, exploitation and violence, Ala Savashevich brings out the mighty power and will to live. She experienced it through performative, embodied work, in which she transformed a traumatic story into a herstory of female solidarity, self-defence and struggle. [1] Silvia Federici, Beyond the Periphery of the Skin: Rethinking, Remaking, and Reclaiming the Body in Contemporary Capitalism, PM Press/Kairos, 2020.&nbsp; https://alasavashevich.com/In-the-Moonlight-stood-she-Listening-to-the-Wind Thu, 27 Nov 2025 09:23:52 +0000 Ala Savashevich https://alasavashevich.com/In-the-Moonlight-stood-she-Listening-to-the-Wind Ala Savashevich In the Moonlight stood she, Listening to the Wind Solo exhibition: october - november, 2025Polish Sculpture Center, PolandCurator: Paulina Brzuskiewicz-KuhnText: Paulina Brzuskiewicz-Kuhn Photo: Wojtek Chrubasik <img width="2400" height="1715" width_o="2400" height_o="1715" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1cd7c019a34355b0b5ef8366aa4a425911cea4e2e6b332c6c6892f2739a116de/Ala_Savashevich_In-the-Moonlight-stood-she--listening-to-the-Wind_Polish-Sculpture-Center_2025_2.jpg" data-mid="241133162" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1cd7c019a34355b0b5ef8366aa4a425911cea4e2e6b332c6c6892f2739a116de/Ala_Savashevich_In-the-Moonlight-stood-she--listening-to-the-Wind_Polish-Sculpture-Center_2025_2.jpg" /> The exhibition In the Moonlight stood she, Listening to the Wind focuses on the female body and its connection to physical labor as well&nbsp;as the rhythm of nature. Referencing the cycle of harvest and dożynki rituals, it highlights the female perspective and the spiritual and bodily wisdom that arises from harmony with the natural world. The central element of the exhibition is the monumental figure Whisper&nbsp;Wowen, woven from flax tow, symbolizing effort, order of action, and the moment of transition from labor to rest. It is accompanied by two straw marquetry screens referencing the moon, clouds, and wind, which emphasize the figure’s relationship with the primordial rhythm of nature. The placement of the exhibition in the historic space of the Wozownia Gallery evokes the memory of labor and the experiences of former manor communities. <img width="1368" height="2048" width_o="1368" height_o="2048" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c815dec57578251dc47c5d8c4f8f8e84c17d71684e14bf727fff415ad0febcc7/Ala_Savashevich_Szeptem_tkana_2025_pakua_lniana_200x150x120cm_S_Fot_Wojciech_Chrubasik_0031.jpeg" data-mid="241133178" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c815dec57578251dc47c5d8c4f8f8e84c17d71684e14bf727fff415ad0febcc7/Ala_Savashevich_Szeptem_tkana_2025_pakua_lniana_200x150x120cm_S_Fot_Wojciech_Chrubasik_0031.jpeg" /><img width="1365" height="2048" width_o="1365" height_o="2048" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/089f3191715ba03d0da109b7c74b1f7836f5d5aee7aabdd3064cfa27dac7d028/Ala_Savashevich_Szeptem_tkana_2025_pakua_lniana_200x150x120cm_S_Fot_Wojciech_Chrubasik_0032.jpeg" data-mid="241133180" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/089f3191715ba03d0da109b7c74b1f7836f5d5aee7aabdd3064cfa27dac7d028/Ala_Savashevich_Szeptem_tkana_2025_pakua_lniana_200x150x120cm_S_Fot_Wojciech_Chrubasik_0032.jpeg" /><img width="2048" height="1368" width_o="2048" height_o="1368" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/96f7800eb80bc9c8c2fb0d8a286d32a3a848ab72b84657a643f067df3975717f/Ala_Savashevich_Szeptem_tkana_2025_pakua_lniana_S_Fot_Wojciech_Chrubasik_0025.jpeg" data-mid="241133187" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/96f7800eb80bc9c8c2fb0d8a286d32a3a848ab72b84657a643f067df3975717f/Ala_Savashevich_Szeptem_tkana_2025_pakua_lniana_S_Fot_Wojciech_Chrubasik_0025.jpeg" /><img width="1368" height="2048" width_o="1368" height_o="2048" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a0728f8da51704b84df8061fcef74f8118fb8191009e0caf94db10378ee67f8d/Ala_Savashevich_Szeptem_tkana_2025_pakua_lniana_S_Fot_Wojciech_Chrubasik_0027.jpeg" data-mid="241133188" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a0728f8da51704b84df8061fcef74f8118fb8191009e0caf94db10378ee67f8d/Ala_Savashevich_Szeptem_tkana_2025_pakua_lniana_S_Fot_Wojciech_Chrubasik_0027.jpeg" /><img width="1368" height="2048" width_o="1368" height_o="2048" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/840c0ff099f2e354f8948ad1a06cab1370c05135a86bb9037725917a5c7314f4/Ala_Savashevich_Szeptem_tkana_2025_pakua_lniana_S_Fot_Wojciech_Chrubasik_0030.jpeg" data-mid="241133189" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/840c0ff099f2e354f8948ad1a06cab1370c05135a86bb9037725917a5c7314f4/Ala_Savashevich_Szeptem_tkana_2025_pakua_lniana_S_Fot_Wojciech_Chrubasik_0030.jpeg" /> https://alasavashevich.com/Pose-Position-Way Thu, 06 Oct 2022 16:48:52 +0000 Ala Savashevich https://alasavashevich.com/Pose-Position-Way Ala Savashevich Pose. Position. Way. Exhibition : “Pose, subordination, festivities and hedgehogs. Young belarusian artist”&nbsp; june, 2019Curators: Maria Isserlis, Christy Woody Aperto Raum, Berlin Video 0’57 <img width="1760" height="1100" width_o="1760" height_o="1100" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bdcbfe9c97eff81339d78175c6760b30a7533e3708f55a08a269c5f6d92d67d1/pose-position-way.png" data-mid="155072459" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/bdcbfe9c97eff81339d78175c6760b30a7533e3708f55a08a269c5f6d92d67d1/pose-position-way.png" /> In our past and present, we often think how to keep a clear and stable position. How to choose a pose to meet social expectations, and not to be rejected. Trying on all sorts of objects, which lose their individuality. We turn ourselves into an object. And every step has&nbsp;to be done with great effort, diligence and hope. Pose. Position. Way. can be interpreted indifferent ways, but as an artist, i want to draw attention both to objectification in general&nbsp;and more specifically to that of women. Through the contrast of colors, i want to emphasize&nbsp;the masquerade that currently exists, and via symbolic visual such as high heels made from a&nbsp;Soviet star, painful movements and disturbing sounds in the video work, communicates thecontinuation of the past legacy. <img width="1760" height="1125" width_o="1760" height_o="1125" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b4fc950b5d110eb91d152ecf7b2284dea03df6579e634e50abcb07a0f158d0e3/pose-subordination-festivities-and-hedgehogs-2.png" data-mid="158417540" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b4fc950b5d110eb91d152ecf7b2284dea03df6579e634e50abcb07a0f158d0e3/pose-subordination-festivities-and-hedgehogs-2.png" /> <img width="1760" height="1125" width_o="1760" height_o="1125" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5ba28c8825df1237f8f6db6386554d58d92454b49dc82e0c6a2ba73d41c00318/pose-subordination-festivities-and-hedgehogs-4.png" data-mid="158417543" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5ba28c8825df1237f8f6db6386554d58d92454b49dc82e0c6a2ba73d41c00318/pose-subordination-festivities-and-hedgehogs-4.png" /> <img width="1760" height="1125" width_o="1760" height_o="1125" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/31877375bbf8faa2ef30634520f82cdf44f2965707aaf99d94a972513660b804/pose-subordination-festivities-and-hedgehogs-1.png" data-mid="158417545" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/31877375bbf8faa2ef30634520f82cdf44f2965707aaf99d94a972513660b804/pose-subordination-festivities-and-hedgehogs-1.png" /> https://alasavashevich.com/1374 Fri, 27 Sep 2024 14:18:19 +0000 Ala Savashevich https://alasavashevich.com/1374 Ala Savashevich 1374 Solo exhibition: september-october, 2024eastcontemporary, Milan, ItalyCurator:&nbsp;eastcontemporaryText: Chiara Nuzzi Photo: Cristina De Paola <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/98a250baed219381c55debcdce35032275ba4b5659152848e91e8a0c89f180e5/01.-Ala-Savashevich--1374--installation-view--2024--eastcontemporary--Milan.jpg" data-mid="218800601" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/98a250baed219381c55debcdce35032275ba4b5659152848e91e8a0c89f180e5/01.-Ala-Savashevich--1374--installation-view--2024--eastcontemporary--Milan.jpg" /><img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4149f789b68861dcd41e738ecb32d44519541067e636cacf96388f3bede5d1c5/02.-Ala-Savashevich--On-heads--on-hands--on-legs--2024--straw-marquetry--280-x-246-cm-kopia.jpg" data-mid="218800604" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4149f789b68861dcd41e738ecb32d44519541067e636cacf96388f3bede5d1c5/02.-Ala-Savashevich--On-heads--on-hands--on-legs--2024--straw-marquetry--280-x-246-cm-kopia.jpg" /> Marginality is a radical place of possibility, a space of resistance. A place capable of offering us the condition of a radical perspective from which to look, create, imagine alternatives and new worlds. This is not a mystical notion of marginality. It is the result of lived experiences. bell hooksThe number 1,374, which gives the exhibition its title, represents the number of hours of manual labour that artist Ala Savashevich put into making the works presented in her first solo show in Milan. Savashevich – whose multidisciplinary practice crosses sculpture, video and performance – deals with themes such as identity, memory, trauma and gender, integrating various phenomena from recent history and their consequences on modernity into her research. Particularly interested in the theme of women’s work being systematically rendered invisible by patriarchal social systems, and the conditions of exploitation and precariousness they face on a daily basis, the artist develops her research from the legacy of post-Soviet society. Savashevich stands within a long tradition of feminist artists who place women’s presence and social condition at the core of their work. While having had no direct contact with the Soviet system and authorities, her generation still suffers the heavy legacy of that past. Having grown up within a social and educational establishment dominated by the patriarchal framework, Savashevich on the one hand lays bare systemic gender discrimination in her work, in the attempt to refute its normalisation, while on the other, she investigates the marginality to which the female figure has been confined over the centuries, re-centring her role in history through the acknowledgement of women’s work, both material and immaterial. <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0a656e5645e0ce13c547dafe9ec0380c2e71b3f431778f3dac238b156864d017/06.-Ala-Savashevich--1374--installation-view--2024--eastcontemporary--Milan.jpg" data-mid="218800614" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0a656e5645e0ce13c547dafe9ec0380c2e71b3f431778f3dac238b156864d017/06.-Ala-Savashevich--1374--installation-view--2024--eastcontemporary--Milan.jpg" /><img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/49a71106d2ef6f5ab6d0b93e07675452c6ff8aa6c994c2316fa6c7e670d3aabe/07.-Ala-Savashevich--1374--installation-view--2024--eastcontemporary--Milan.jpg" data-mid="218800617" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/49a71106d2ef6f5ab6d0b93e07675452c6ff8aa6c994c2316fa6c7e670d3aabe/07.-Ala-Savashevich--1374--installation-view--2024--eastcontemporary--Milan.jpg" /> The artist thus embarks on a rewriting operation, one in which repression and invisibility – phenomena historically suffered by women in particular – are transformed through the theme of work (including artistic work) into an act of resistance. Exploring the emotional tensions between the construction of the female role and history, that of post-Soviet society in particular, Savashevich reinterprets a past of marginalisation and precariousness in search of a new location for herself first and foremost. The experience of both personal and collective marginalisation thus allows the artist to delve into the interstices of history by deploying a repositioning process that brings the peripheral body of women from the margins to the centre of the narrative. A clear demonstration of this is the work On heads, on hands, on legs, 2024 in which, like columns, female silhouettes support the roof of an imposing portal, in a clear reference to Greek caryatids. The frieze references the entrances of houses in Belarusian villages, and the material used – straw – recalls such basic elements of peasant life as sunlight, rye, soil and ploughing. The background the work stands against is painted red, a regal colour that evokes sunset: the end of the workday. <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dc240869733c59fb9c30913434da0d83f0bd8d878abc8ce21576ad30873c8aa7/04.-Ala-Savashevich--Girls--strike-while-the-iron-is-hot-I-Series-Vases--2024--straw-marquetry--42-x-25-x-25-cmjpg.jpg" data-mid="218800609" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/dc240869733c59fb9c30913434da0d83f0bd8d878abc8ce21576ad30873c8aa7/04.-Ala-Savashevich--Girls--strike-while-the-iron-is-hot-I-Series-Vases--2024--straw-marquetry--42-x-25-x-25-cmjpg.jpg" /><img width="1600" height="2400" width_o="1600" height_o="2400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0c6116e103cd6e5b97e6774c62349bd58172214500455fc02c7bc9872da806ab/03.-Ala-Savashevich--82-hours--2024--cotton--wood--200-x-75-cm--ed.-of-2-plus-1AP-.jpg" data-mid="218800607" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0c6116e103cd6e5b97e6774c62349bd58172214500455fc02c7bc9872da806ab/03.-Ala-Savashevich--82-hours--2024--cotton--wood--200-x-75-cm--ed.-of-2-plus-1AP-.jpg" /> In her recent production, the artist often draws on elements of the traditional decorative and craft aesthetics and techniques of Belarus, her homeland, through a language that moves beyond sculpture to explore and blur the boundaries between art and life. For example, the two vases in the exhibition (Girls, strike while the iron is hot, 2024) are made using straw marquetry and reflect the iconography of the portal. The marquetry decorations represent female figures engaged in work activities usually associated with men, such as smithery: a craft considered demanding and prestigious in Soviet society, and which the artist here associates instead with female labour. These also allude to the training Savashevich received at the art academy she attended, where students were often asked to produce sculptures inspired by the theme of work. Also in Exercise is Technique, 2024 the artist plays with the post-Soviet aesthetic assimilated during her education. The sizable mask, made of woven oakum linen and steel chainmail (on the back) in a process that alludes to the patience and care associated with women’s work, depicts an expressionless, vaguely ironic young woman’s face, and parodies the stoicism of communist idols to be found in the monumentalist tradition. The steel sculpture Sew Your Own, 2022, has a more severe presence and reveals how women’s intergenerational memory may confront the weight of patriarchy, exploitation and violence. With hundreds of metal rings, the artist wove an armour-apron, applying the same technique used to make the chainmail band Miss Worker that accompanies the only photographic print in the exhibition, one of the rare portraits of the artist’s grandmother caught during her endless hours of manual labour. The band and the apron both allude to deeply ingrained sexist social mindsets. Resulted from an exhausting and prolonged working process, the artworks emphatically reveal the real burden borne by the female body so as to fulfil the role socially attributed to women. <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2a05f33fa4bd2b08e66e7de5d50f72f0af23e5fe934201a2b1395ee25d954bff/12.-Ala-Savashevich--Nadzia-at-work--2024--giclee-print--cotton-paper--Hahnemuhle-Photo-Rag-308-g_m2--100-x-65-5-cm--ed.-of-3-jpg.jpg" data-mid="218800634" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2a05f33fa4bd2b08e66e7de5d50f72f0af23e5fe934201a2b1395ee25d954bff/12.-Ala-Savashevich--Nadzia-at-work--2024--giclee-print--cotton-paper--Hahnemuhle-Photo-Rag-308-g_m2--100-x-65-5-cm--ed.-of-3-jpg.jpg" /><img width="1600" height="2400" width_o="1600" height_o="2400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fc65484a873c98a65986ead81014b9e14ce52c46a60f1966a8c1d8d73d2bc4cb/13.-Ala-Savashevich--Sew-On-Your-Own--2022--steel--80-x-26-5-x-40-cmjpg.jpg" data-mid="218800637" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fc65484a873c98a65986ead81014b9e14ce52c46a60f1966a8c1d8d73d2bc4cb/13.-Ala-Savashevich--Sew-On-Your-Own--2022--steel--80-x-26-5-x-40-cmjpg.jpg" /> According to Savashevich, the processual dimension inherent in her own art is strongly bound up in to a post-Soviet celebratory conception of work handed down through her family, one which has been linked to textile handicrafts for generations. In her practice, she demonstrates a deep awareness of just how much is socially required of artists today to serve also, and ever more, as entrepreneurs able to convert creativity into managerial skills. The textile work 82 hours, 2024, on which the hours taken by the artist to create her works are embroidered, reveals a scenario in which all distinctions between life and work are blurred, in a dissolving of boundaries initially claimed by the avant-garde as a form of self-determination and which, today, indicates instead the total pervasiveness of exploitation and the inescapable sacrifice of one’s life time on the altar of labour. Turning her gaze to the traditional decorative practices and aesthetics of the Soviet past, the artist thus invites us to pay further attention: as she deconstructs the notion of the exceptionalism of artistic labour and undoes the male-oriented, patriarchal modernist myth of the individual, isolated artist, her work raises immediate political implications, necessary to imagine generative alliances and intertwinings. The works in the exhibition thus recount the exploitation of ‘agent’ bodies, kept to the margins of history, yet bodies that – through language, action, gesture and movement – claim a space of existential and political appearance in a collective, egalitarian and relational dimension that, as philosopher Hannah Arendt suggests, is the only real possibility for the existence of freedom. https://alasavashevich.com/Unknown Wed, 10 Aug 2022 22:17:09 +0000 Ala Savashevich https://alasavashevich.com/Unknown Ala Savashevich UnknownExhibition:&nbsp;“Naked Nerve“ may – september, 2021 BWA Wrocław Głowny Gallery, Poland The Master’s Studio: Joanna Rajkowska Curator: Anna Mituś Text: Anna MituśPhoto: Alicja Kielan courtesy of Museum <img width="1366" height="2049" width_o="1366" height_o="2049" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e3fb45e5b7856a1f9c57bc3011d5d5f2b27415782ee8515f64f3d47a619dcb93/unknown-1.png" data-mid="151231656" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e3fb45e5b7856a1f9c57bc3011d5d5f2b27415782ee8515f64f3d47a619dcb93/unknown-1.png" /> <img width="1366" height="2049" width_o="1366" height_o="2049" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/35110226c7ff0f9a2414e587263481631eb091a0bc88ec4d3722e1519843693a/unknown-2.png" data-mid="151232920" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/35110226c7ff0f9a2414e587263481631eb091a0bc88ec4d3722e1519843693a/unknown-2.png" /> "Politics has no heart. It has only a head" - the words, attributed to Napoleon, sound funnily literal in describing the form obsessively followed by Ala Savashevich in her latest sculptural project. The work, created within the framework of Naked Nerve, is an attempt to reconstruct the key element of a political "body". In this way, the artist refers to her earlier work, meant to cope with the post-Soviet symbolic and material heritage. She first explored the theme in 2017, with a sculpture she evocatively entitled Ghost (2017). The starting points for the creation of the sculpture are the symbolic decapitations of monuments, recurrent in news reports from various periods in history andifferent parts of the world: "Legnica. The bust of Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky disappeared from the lapidarium in late July. The police found it in the field – headless. The perpetrators were detained"; "Lenin lost his head near Orenburg"; "Why was Christopher Columbus decapitated?". The concept of her new work further explores the mystery of the missing head and the atavistic power of the image. At the same time, the choice of such an "antihero", soft material, associated with the feminine (sewing) is an act of provocation. She humorously "retaliates" against centuries of great history written in heroic biographies, overshadowing the quiet, "cheap" work of subordinated, marginal perspectives. The over four-metre tall male figure is made of felt, hiding a steel frame underneath. Despite the evident spectrality of the figure - perversely evoking the beginning of the Communist Manifesto ("A spectre is haunting Europe") - every time the work was presented, the artist had to answer questions: "Who is this hero?", "Why is he headless?" and "What happened to the head?" That is why, explaining the reasons for her choice of the topic, Ala Savashevich writes to Joanna Rajkowska: "In order to say goodbye to the past that we view with distaste, we part with its visual component first. Why does the farewell begin with a symbolic execution, beheading of an already "dead" body? Perhaps this act separates us completely from the inconvenient memories and history which is difficult to accept? And the remaining torso represents an empty space, ready to be recast by forming a new hero? Is it erasing or updating history? We are currently living again in the period of great changes, deformations which have a powerful effect on the way we perceive both the past and the future. Everything that is happening incessantly influences their final shape. https://alasavashevich.com/The-rite-of-spring Mon, 03 Oct 2022 21:39:41 +0000 Ala Savashevich https://alasavashevich.com/The-rite-of-spring Ala Savashevich The rite of spring Exhibition:&nbsp;“Renewal“ october - november, 2020-2022 BWA Zielona Góra, Poland Curators: Marta Gendera, Joanna Sokołowska, Bartek Lisvideo 3'25'' Text: Joanna Sokolowska Photo: Alicja Kielan <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7ecbe16696e1d2bbfaebaf2a57b8caed66a1fd7174cd98b7a889697dc1cdaf54/the-rite-of-spring-2.png" data-mid="157840012" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7ecbe16696e1d2bbfaebaf2a57b8caed66a1fd7174cd98b7a889697dc1cdaf54/the-rite-of-spring-2.png" /> The inspiration for the artist’s on-camera performance came from the famous ballet by Igor Stravinsky, choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky and performed by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, staged for the first time in 1913. Its content was the pagan rites in Rus related to the cult of the Earth. These rituals linked human life with the cyclical process of death and rebirth in nature. Their element was the sacrifice of a virgin who was forced to dance to death in order to awaken the Earth from hibernation. Dressed in a hand-made felt uniform, the artist recreated the death dance of the victim in accordance with the ballet choreography. The premiere of Savashevich’s song took place online on 9 May 2020 during the Covid epidemic. The date was chosen by the artist in response to the Victory Day (over the Third Reich in World War II) celebrated in Belarus at that time. President of the Republic of Belarus, who was denying the pandemic threat, ordered a great parade of veterans in Minsk. To achieve his own propaganda goals, he put veterans at mortal risk, sacrificing them, as it were, to his regime. And the generation, accustomed to obedience, succumbed to the learned patterns of social choreography. Savashevich’s Rite of Spring introduces a seed of change to it by breaking a single human body out of line, bringing out its fragility and mismatch with the uniform. <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f2276e333650af732d34b1281636fb0624c6b84ae55ad7feedf195840b084d45/the-rite-of-spring-1.png" data-mid="157840011" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f2276e333650af732d34b1281636fb0624c6b84ae55ad7feedf195840b084d45/the-rite-of-spring-1.png" /> https://alasavashevich.com/Ghost Thu, 06 Oct 2022 17:15:30 +0000 Ala Savashevich https://alasavashevich.com/Ghost Ala Savashevich Ghost Exhibition “Every Day”: april – may, 2021Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, UkraineCurators: Aleksei Borisionok, Andrei Dureika, Marina Naprushkina, Sergey Shabohin, Antonina Stebur, Maxim Tyminko&nbsp; Text:&nbsp;curatorial group of the exhibition "Every Day"Photo: Alexandr Popenko <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ffc5c88d263b6d9a24649c61e7145e1238afc0d7b6cfb04fce9632f2eaa0f0e8/ghost-10.png" data-mid="157934041" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ffc5c88d263b6d9a24649c61e7145e1238afc0d7b6cfb04fce9632f2eaa0f0e8/ghost-10.png" /><img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/de617ecdd1567c2f2ff9f3c34d4e205cf2262ed10ce7faaaab2163b05b6e5b30/ghost-14.png" data-mid="157934045" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/de617ecdd1567c2f2ff9f3c34d4e205cf2262ed10ce7faaaab2163b05b6e5b30/ghost-14.png" /> <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/982e38905eee0b6a252bb3c97355044dafeba31d2bdb83b9c987228172a4eb07/ghost-13.png" data-mid="157934044" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/982e38905eee0b6a252bb3c97355044dafeba31d2bdb83b9c987228172a4eb07/ghost-13.png" /> <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e58b4ca8f44d5f05e2ada9779e54c83c5af0de6f5134b61d371ec4a4307c9c22/ghost-12.png" data-mid="157934043" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e58b4ca8f44d5f05e2ada9779e54c83c5af0de6f5134b61d371ec4a4307c9c22/ghost-12.png" /> In her artistic practice, Ala Savashevich refers to the collective of the Soviet past. She works with textile and clothing to research the relationship between materials and ideology, physical materials. experience and body politics. The artist refers to monuments and the concept of "monumentality," analyzing their purpose during Soviet times, how their functions changed in the post-socialist context, and how their forms and meanings transformed. She subverts monumentality by working with specific materials and mediums - textile and performance- that are capable of questioning the ideological aspects of materials. Her sculpture "Ghost" (2017) draws attention to a secondary detail of the bronze Lenin statue in the town of Stolin, namely the coat. By exhibiting the coat, but removing the political leader's body, Ala refers to the themes of memory, ideology and materiality. https://alasavashevich.com/Exercise-Is-Technique Mon, 01 Apr 2024 08:41:41 +0000 Ala Savashevich https://alasavashevich.com/Exercise-Is-Technique Ala Savashevich&nbsp; Exercise Is Technique Exhibition: “It’s no time to regret the roses when the woods burn”march - april, 2024OP ENHEIM, Wrocław, PolandCurator: Kama WróbelText: Kama Wróbel Photo: Alicja Kielan <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/85898a99e422870566122267c6cff68accf3f81b3a1a6090eca4c9b26e7f4a61/Ala_Savashevich_Exercise_Is_Technique_2024_oakumlinen_steel_2.jpg" data-mid="207999316" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/85898a99e422870566122267c6cff68accf3f81b3a1a6090eca4c9b26e7f4a61/Ala_Savashevich_Exercise_Is_Technique_2024_oakumlinen_steel_2.jpg" /><img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c89eaa52dcbd005a9df75563d0f445d76fa026aa4ad6e65ccb2f8ea6651b7360/Ala_Savashevich_Exercise_Is_Technique_2024_oakumlinen_steel_1.jpg" data-mid="207999315" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c89eaa52dcbd005a9df75563d0f445d76fa026aa4ad6e65ccb2f8ea6651b7360/Ala_Savashevich_Exercise_Is_Technique_2024_oakumlinen_steel_1.jpg" /> "When I'm working with chainmail, I often think that this material requires patience and discipline, things that girls are taught in primary school. Linen, on the other hand, is a&nbsp;raw, soft, flexible material that is easy to manoeuvre, change, shape, arrange. It is a&nbsp;material that is the&nbsp;starting point for working on matter, fabric."- Ala Savashevich <img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/be781ef51d7a965b7bbb2a9c70f7c6a9029423e61c99702d0f6cf59e029b028a/Ala_Savashevich_Exercise_Is_Technique_2024_oakumlinen_steel_3.jpg" data-mid="207999317" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/be781ef51d7a965b7bbb2a9c70f7c6a9029423e61c99702d0f6cf59e029b028a/Ala_Savashevich_Exercise_Is_Technique_2024_oakumlinen_steel_3.jpg" /> Ala Savashevich, an artist of Belarusian origin who has spent years working on the theme of collective memory and identity formation in societies with a&nbsp;history of authoritarianism and patriarchy, explores similar issues in her latest installation. On a&nbsp;formal level, the&nbsp;artist refers to the&nbsp;exhibition Arm and Protect, curated by Joanna Sokołowska, in which a&nbsp;prominent role was played by a&nbsp;chainmail. This time, the&nbsp;object is discreetly among bundles of carefully combed raw linen, speaking to us from beneath the&nbsp;multiplied images of model students. It becomes a&nbsp;core, a&nbsp;backbone, shaped by the&nbsp;system over the&nbsp;years, which imperceptibly formats unsuspecting young minds by turning itself into an integral part of their mentality. Our mentality. <img width="1600" height="2400" width_o="1600" height_o="2400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fbe0bd3adfff3b1f443683dfda3a5a80b3dacd8e5f0cb36e7929c8d14284ae5f/Ala_Savashevich_Exercise_Is_Technique_2024_oakumlinen_steel_4.jpg" data-mid="207999370" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fbe0bd3adfff3b1f443683dfda3a5a80b3dacd8e5f0cb36e7929c8d14284ae5f/Ala_Savashevich_Exercise_Is_Technique_2024_oakumlinen_steel_4.jpg" />