Описание

Ara Chalym
Дюдя (Dyudya), 2024

mixed media collage
30 × 21 cm

Artist’s Quote:

For me, collage is a way of communicating, of interacting with those relatives whom I was not able to meet personally during their lifetime. While working on a portrait, I reflect on the little that is known about the person, on the mortality of everything in the world, on what trace we leave behind. This collage was assembled a year ago, and it tells in strokes the story of my dekulakized great-grandfather. The title «Dyudya» (a dialectal variant of the word «grandfather») and elements of Yaroslavl embroidery refer to his native village.

The portrait «Dyudya» on one hand imitates a funeral portrait, while on the other, it depicts a natural cycle— golden ears of wheat sprout from black, «dead» earth. But of course, this is primarily a reference to the fact that my great-grandfather was a peasant. At present, we don’t know where he is buried; his trace was lost after notification of his transfer to Solovki.

In this series of works there also exists a portrait of my Turkish grandmother Emine: her life turned out much better, fortunately.