Asya Marakulina

«Hidden Seams» tells the story of my family in the language of natural and spatial metaphors. My family like many others for economic and social reasons was closely connected to agriculture and horticulture : in difficult and transitional years, a piece of land fed us almost all year round. The cycles of nature - its blooming, drooping and rebirth - have always influenced our way of life. The seasons and elements of nature in this project are sewn into the events from my family life and are inextricably linked to them.

The exhibition was structured in a circle and it developed clockwise: it started with autumn and looped at the end. The curtains on the windows, «Soft protectors», are named after the months and represent someone from the family - they separate the street from the house and play with the light. Funny potato tubers remind of teamwork and harvesting. The annual cycle ends with a month of warmth and parting in August and the embroidered Sun - the reason of the whole cycle.

The exhibition loops itself and starts a new annual circle, where it already tells my story, which naturally follows the previous one. A series of embroideries-rooms connected to each other by entrances and exits invites to the artist’s mental space. I wanted to be as sincere in my story as possible, but at the same time to omit the details, to bring my story to a universal level. «Hidden seams» is a reflection on the close ties of individuality and its family history, on a person as a part of nature and an element in the large world order.