Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova continues her ongoing ‘Second Hand’ series, in which she builds ceramic clothes utilizing tiles discovered around the globe. For her 2019 installation at Galleria Continua en Cuba, she collected ceramic tiles from many different streets of Havana and uses materials from local factories in order to produce strong ties with the surrounding communities.
After extensively visiting Havana and its periphery, the artist Zhanna Kadyrova realized that although history once paralleled Soviet Ukraine and Revolutionary Cuba, the island shines with a unique aura.
The coming exhibition that will open on August 30th in the Czech Republic will be hosted by Zahorian Gallery!
Zhanna Kadyrova, who represented Ukraine in the 55th and 56th Venice Biennials is also taking part in the 58th edition this year as well.
Inside Zhanna Kadyrova’s Second Hand Series
Zhanna Kadyrova began the series in São Paulo in 2014. Born in 1981 in Brovary, she lives and works in Kyiv. In Brazil, she noticed the rich decorative patterns of the tiles covering shops, cafes, and homes. As a result, she started turning found tiles into sculptures that resemble dresses, shirts, and shorts on hangers.
Many pieces are displayed where the tiles were found. She also photographs each garment in the place its tiles came from. For example, her Havana works for Galleria Continua used ceramics collected from old city streets. Likewise, she has drawn on tiles from Soviet-era buildings in Ukraine. These include a silk factory and a film-copy factory in Kyiv. In this way, each garment carries the memory of a place.
For the Venice Biennale, she used tiles from a hotel in Venice. In short, the series keeps changing with every city it visits. Cement and wood sit alongside the ceramics. Together, Zhanna Kadyrova’s works explore the link between architecture, memory, and everyday clothing.
For more public art like Zhanna Kadyrova’s, browse our Sculpture category or see Borondo Street Art: Memory and Erasure.
