Ksenia Sidorova, Cockroaches

Curator: Karolina Puchała-Rojek

 

The cult of success and personal growth, working in an always-connected environment, the virtualisation of private life, the importunate and imposed needs to demonstrate our successes, both real or imaginary, in social networks—all these have made the boundaries between professional and private lives blur, gradually pushing the modern person’s right to his or her personal space to the sidelines. The desire to impress all our peers and virtual friends, compounded with the fear of committing personal failure, nowadays render us more vulnerable to various phobias. Fear—often nothing but a form of expression of mental discomfort in response to the desire for social approval and, simultaneously, the uncertainty of results—poses an obstacle to our ability to perform any action.

Cockroaches is a reflection of my own insecurity and vulnerability to imaginary monsters. A red cockroach to me is closely linked to my childhood memories evoking a feeling of irrepressible disgust. This is a monstrous imagery of anxiety and vague phobias, shocking omnivorousness, and vitality. Using the interiors of my flat and my own body, I re-enact the painful condition, which overcomes me in the process of working on my plans. In going through creative expressions and challenging experiences, full of thoroughly exhausting internal monologues, I turn into an abominable cockroach. People who are close to me become the targets of my uncontrollable destructive forces, while my own body feels like an alien even to myself, turning into a hostile space.

 

Ksenia Sidorova (1983, Russia)

Studied photojournalism at the School of Visual Arts, Moscow, as well as post-documentary photography and art photography at the DocDocDoc School of Modern Photography, St Petersburg. Currently working on personal projects and using photography to explore the behavioural aspects of the human personality that exists within the framework of mass culture and social stereotypes. Sidorova is a member of the Russian Union of Art Photographers. Her projects have featured in some exhibitions and festivals such as the Young Photography competition (Pushchino/Moscow, Russia), the Baltic Biennale Photomania (Kaliningrad, Russia), and Uglich festival (Uglich, Russia).