[show description]
dreamer warriors brings together first, second, and third generation local immigrant and non-immigrant artists that explore identity and constantly challenge the idea of existence outside of “expected stereotyping” / the perception of immigrants, by others and themselves, differs through social conception, cultural judgements, political predispositions, religious expectations, and the trauma that has been caused by stereotypes / all they fight for is to belong, to be respected, and be heard like everyone else
[thinking]
while working at the installation and reading diverse set of texts (mainly philosophy and social sciences,) some thoughts and revelations came to me that i’d like to share / there is a lot has been said about the differences between people and anxieties among the locals and those who came from other places (immigrants, the other) / it’s been also said about the uneasy spaces that immigrants have to navigate in order to adapt, about how a new place of living molds and in the same time alienates immigrants, and how local societies produce reliable neighborhoods within which subjects can be recognized and organized
there is another aspect to this though / it is not only societies that construct localities and identities (in other words, space changes a person) but also individuals (re)construct their own localities and places (a person changes the space) / these (re)constructed places are spaces of negotiation necessary for living
being both russian and american (and in the same time, being neither of those,) not only i planted myself into a new soil and was grown by and in it, but also have been constantly changing the composition of this soil, the place i find myself in / not only i adapted myself as much as I could to my new house, the surrounding trees, the lake, the places i visit (the gym, the supermarket, etc.) but also i built a garden, brought plants to my house, and have been interacting with people / it occurred to me that by doing so, i’ve been (re)constructing my own locality imbuing it with my private, cultural and historical experiences and knowledge / yet, this locality where i walk, think, speak and make, is not a contained one but a scion to a larger locality – the neighborhood
[concept of the artwork]
the installation for the 'dreamer warriors' is a symbolic (re)constructed space as much as a metaphor of becoming (growing as) a local subject / it includes and stems from my interaction with the landscape (hence the piles of soil,) anxiety and hope, entropy and construction, social wear and flux, ecological uncertainty, and cultural art practices (wax molding and folk art inspired ornaments on the torsos and pots)
