SMU, BFA 2015
26 aquatint prints on paper, 2015, 8"w x 11.5" (each)
Dostoyevsky said, “Who forsakes his country, forsakes his God.” Themes of language and culture, and how they relate to identity, are particularly interesting to me. I am a Russian speaker from Latvia, a country with little in common with Russia despite Russia’s longtime occupancy. Am I Russian because I speak Russian, or am I Latvian because I was born in Latvia? I incline toward the former because language forms culture. However, isolation from Latvian society has tremendous effects on my worldview and identity. This alienation from Latvian and Russian cultures is a theme of my color exploration. I am interested in language as a form of communication and as a constructor of understanding. With my color prints I am establishing my own language and trying to find my identity.
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