“Они/They”
Olga Svyatova
14 Jan → 5 Feb 2023
Olga Svyatova, 'Они/They, 2022', photography. Image courtesy of artist.
Они/They is an ongoing project exploring the many connections between time, relationships and images. The subjects of these photographs are both my blood family, based in Russia and my chosen family and friends in so-called ‘Australia’. The story starts with the relationship between an early photograph of my aunt, taken during her family’s annual summer trip to Makhachkala (Republic of Dagestan) in 1962, and a recent sending-off party that I hosted before a trip to my motherland in 2022 after a long period of not being able to visit family. It was during that trip that, looking through family albums, I noticed a strange similarity between the photographs which were taken before my birth and the photographs I had taken myself decades later. Moments of celebration, portraits, and silly times, being completely accidental and so unstaged, these photographs open up questions of connection, exploring the intricacies of relationships across time and space. Both are never ending cycles that change, they ebb and flow and help shape who we are.
– Olga Svyatova
This project is supported by the City of Yarra.
Olga Svyatova lives and work on Gadigal Land. Through a multidisciplinary practice spanning photography, printmaking, and textile, Olga Svyatova deconstructs and examines memory, intimacy, and connection. They appropriate their own personal history as a means by which to compel viewers to reflect on the connections that sustain our lives. Born and raised in Russia, and now based on Gadigal Land (Sydney), Svyatova's experience of cultural, geographic, and personal relocation drives their practice.