The River
With Thin Skin

The work "The River With Thin Skin" was inspired by Olivia Laing’s book “To the River”, in which the writer went through the Ouse from source to mouth, telling along the way about both personal experience and other historical events related to this river. I traveled together with Olivia while reading the book, and I was thinking about the rivers of my life.

 

In Crimea, it is Belbek, sometimes drying up, cool, with a winding, sandy mouth flowing into the Black Sea. It reminds me of my practice in the university, walks with Anton, and a cemetery on the shore. Then there was the Moscow River with ice bridges. I walked along the promenade, all alone, waiting for the future. And now it’s cozy, thin, the Rotte River, along which I'm biking slowly. Not only are my personal stories connected to these rivers, but also big historical events of different times and their personal geological story.

 

Our feelings, history, and landscape form the space of memory. Humankind influences nature not only physically, but also emotionally, by humanizing it. In order to use this way of communication, I built my rivers as landscapes with human body parts. The river with its arms pulls inside, sees everything, stores everything, and continues to run.