SASHA SHEVCHENKO

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With shadows you are as much in control of them as you are not. And two things that were very clear combine to become something completely other.

But once our eyes have construed pattern, is there really any going back?

Does it really matter, the name of their owners?

@lyusterko

2025

And I couldn’t help but imagine being there with you. (Mylanka)

Central Saint Martins, London UK.

About

Based on an archival photo of a ritual fight during the winter pagan holiday of Mylanka, two figures donning animal costumes wrestle in front of onlookers. The dog makes an appearance in the bottom right section,
seemingly aiding the exposed female figure in her battle.

The piece speaks of the uncomfortable vulnerability of recovering aspects of a culture that seem really distant and foreign, it is a battle of the self that extends beyond the boundaries of inherited rituals, dances, and tradition.

Mylanka, 2025, acrylic on velvet, 110 x 160cm.