In the Salt of Earth, I construct symbolic maps of my immigration using sea salt and flash lights. Each line of the map is a narrative, a travel story inspired by my continuous relocation since 2006, the year when I left my home country. In the process of building the map, I transform myself, taking off my everyday clothes and revealing my liminal self, trapped between two worlds – past and present, East and West, Russia and Canada. The project unfolds as a series of live art actions aimed at mapping the world of global migrants. My personal history of immigration documented in my diaries, letters, and poems becomes the central point of departure. I share intimate narratives through spoken word, body art and performance of endurance. The performance goes through a series of gestures of building and eventually destroying temporary emotional landscapes driven by nostalgia and understanding of temporality of human life.
The Salt of Earth
Festival d'art performatif de Trois-Rivieres, QC, Canada, 2018