Threads

The Ruarts Foundation presents a large-scale exhibition by contemporary Russian artists. ‘Threads’ intertwines three floors of the foundation, comprising an ode to manual labour. Nina Gomiashvili, the project curator, has collected textile works by 39 artists who are united by the phenomenon of rehabilitated techniques and methods that have long been considered artisanal and related to women’s activities. Among the works you can see "The Road to Oz" by Lyudmila Baronina, two new works by Katya Isaeva, an object from the series "Swan Lake" by Egor Fedorichev, a recreated hut made of blankets by Irina Korina from the exhibition "Apologue" and the familiar inscription "be kind" by Olga Bozhko inside.

“The exhibition is primarily based on the collection of the Ruarts Foundation, on the polyphony of authors who use textiles as the basis of their visual language,”says the curator. “This collection was formed over a long period of time and includes many textile works without any specific theme, so the only unitary component is technique. But I needed to start from somewhere to make the statement precise, and at the beginning I myself, my personal emotions, became this reference point. I turned to an image from childhood, familiar to many from the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, ‘The Wild Swans’. I was inspired by the episode about chain mail woven from nettles that could return human form, and this metaphor became central to the exhibition. It brings us back to the present day, in which a sense of instability is hypertrophied, and emphasises the importance of preserving not only appearance, but what is more valuable – the human essence.”

Photo: Luba Shemetova