Asya Marakulina

The lower floor of the gallery, which holds the exposition, becomes a metaphor of the subconscious.
A hidden place within personality, a basement, wherein are contained the stashed away fears, repressed and concealed emotions, disturbing memories. All that, for various reasons, could not be given expression in the light of the day — powerlessness, shame, bitterness, weariness, anger, jealousy.  However, now manifest as a works of art, the previously hidden emotions are revealed and presented to the viewer as tangible reality. This conversion produces the therapeutic effect that helps accept these feelings and the associated memories, incorporate them into our biography and identity.

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The project title, Never Again, a phrase that imposed self-limitations, setting boundaries and restrictions. They are often violated immediately upon pronouncement. A firm "no" turns into self-deception and strict limitations turn into relaxed rules of a free game, creativity, or any other activity that we undertake to break free. After all, we often need to name the fear and accept  experience, before we can overcome it and let it go. The works in this series are oscillate between strict self-imposed limitations and free play. The amplitude of their emotional saturation is wide — from the extremely personal to the indifferently detached and ironic. Should we even try balancing all this? Or let this pendulum swing?