Ukrainian artist Daria Kalashnikova: "That moment, I felt that Latvia would accept me"
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Loading... - Viola Bertoni
- 04 Oct 2022
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A perfect example is Daria Kalashnikova, a refugee from Ukraine who has made a new life in RÄ«ga and quickly blazed a trail in the art world with her bold performances, paintings and, perhaps most importantly, an amazing ability to get things done.
Most recently that included the opening of a solo exhibition at the EU House in RÄ«ga, as previously reported. LSM asked Daria to tell us more of her remarkable story.
In May, I came to RÄ«ga just to take a closer look at the city. At that moment, Latvia and Lithuania were the only countries in Northern Europe that I had not yet been to. I studied in Estonia and Denmark, worked in Spain and Ukraine and traveled to about 40 countries in total.
On May 4, Latvia celebrated the Day of the Restoration of the Independence of the Republic of Latvia. There were many billboards in the city, not only with photographs of 1990 in Latvia, but also with a photo from the Ukrainian Parliament in 1991. I really liked this photo of the Ukrainian MPs. That moment I felt that Latvia would accept me.
I am 33 years old and earlier I worked as an assistant to an MP in the Ukrainian parliament, in 2014-2015 I was an adviser to the Minister of Information Policy of Ukraine.
In 2019, I decided to dedicate myself to a more creative endeavor and applied to study performance directing in Denmark. But all my work is always saturated with politics. In RÄ«ga, after I applied for a humanitarian visa, I immediately went to the Art Nouveau Museum. Leaving the museum on Alberta Street, on the building opposite, I saw a sign of the Latvian Center for Contemporary Art.
I went in, explained the idea of ​​my performance “How long can this all last?” to the director Solvita Kresse. She liked the idea and helped me to find the Riga performance festival at the Latvian National Academy of Arts where I showed it for the first time. Read More...
