Description

Olesya Gonserovskaya
Letter “Х, х” from the Soviet ABC-Book Series 2023 – 2024

intaglio tetrapak print
18 × 13 cm

Artist's Quote:

If there is an ABC book with all good things for normal human speaking, then there also should be an ABC book for post-soviet vocabulary detox.

There are dozens of sayings in modern Russian conversations that depict very toxic and aggressive mindsets, as well as ways of interacting with other people. Some of them trace back to the bloody revolution, while others are even older, stemming from religious or patriarchal lifestyles, or both.

These fossils can still be found in ordinary daily speech. But is this spoken unconsciously? Most of the time, yes. But is it innocent? No. I combined those sayings with drawings of typical

Soviet utensils. Additionally, I strategically hid death symbols throughout – mirroring the mirage that I experienced myself from time to time. Even in brilliant and convenient things in Russia, I sometimes felt the cold breath of non-living.