contact:
Patrick Heide
patrickheide@hotmail.com

ARTISTS
Yuliya Lanina

About Yuliya Lanina

As a contemporary art folklorist, I reach back into the primordial memory of humankind to breach deep-seated emotions that rarely find accommodation in everyday life. My work is a passageway to the unconscious. I use doll-like creatures to express the related attitudes and behaviors that permeate modern society. I often find inspiration in my tradition-rich Russian roots.

The practice of disassembling familiar and then gathering together disparate items has always captivated me. I continually investigate the new relationships and possible meanings that can surface when things are assembled and juxtaposed.

My work is highly charged with personal and grieving experiences, yet its mood is innocent and hopeful, imbued with a desire for purification and transformation. I often reuse and evolve images and symbols, which serve as a visual vocabulary to develop a personal mythology.


"Play with me," short film, 3 min. 12 sec.
What originally looks like harmless doll play turns into a story about violence, madness and revenge. Based on a personal narrative, “Play with me” is a commentary on the loss of innocence when it results in psychosis and heightened awareness.


"Journey," stop-motion animation, 3 min. 43 sec.
“Journey” is an allegory about one's journey through life. The protagonist, a little half-doll/ half-bird character, strides through fantasy landscapes inhabited by fairy tale creatures. She sings a Russian children’s song about the importance of finding her kin.