Irina Nakhova
Born in 1955, she graduated from the Moscow Polygraphic Institute (1978). Since 1989 she has held over 30 solo shows in Moscow, London, Barcelona, Salzburg, New York, Chicago and other cities in Europe and the United States. Was longlisted for the 2007 and 2011 Kandinsky Prize in the Project of the Year category. Her works are held by the National Center for Contemporary Arts in Moscow and others.
The project “Untitled” consists of three parts all indissolubly connected to each other: a three-channel video called “Untitled,” a canvas print called “Figure Skaters” and an object called “Top Management.” All three parts are based on my family’s personal archives and photographs I took at various points in my life. Altogether these materials cover almost a century — from the 1920s to the present.
The static and moving images in the synchronized three-channel film, flickering and alternating, create a space reminiscent of the monumental architecture of dictatorial regimes.
“Untitled” is my reckoning with history as comprehended through the history of my family — my grandma, executed grandpa, mom, dad and my past self. This is my attempt to understand the inexplicable state of affairs that has reigned in my country for the last century, and to understand through private imagery how millions of people were erased from history and happily forgotten; how people have been blinded and their souls destroyed so that they can live without memory and history.
