POSTCARDS FROM THE HOMELAND
Volha Maslouskaya
Postcards from the Homeland. Part Three: Flora and Fauna.
The beginning of work on a series developing the idea of embroidery on objects. This stage of the project involved research, with particular attention to the concept of mimicry and strategies of adaptation under unstable conditions.
Mimicry is understood as a way of interacting with an aggressive environment. In nature, some organisms imitate others — sometimes even predators — in order to avoid danger.
Beyond its biological dimension, I consider mimicry in a cultural and historical context: it is connected to postcolonial discourse, concepts of identity, and guerrilla tactics.
In “Mimicry and Man,” Homi Bhabha develops his concept of mimicry. He argues that the colonizer seeks to reform the Other and make them resemble themselves, but in such a way that difference is preserved. As a result, the colonizer can never fully transmit their beliefs to the colonized, who will always remain “almost white, but not quite.” Bhabha’s central argument is that mimicry, even unintentionally, can serve as an effective strategy of resistance. Although the colonized may rarely be aware of it, through mimicry they undermine the systems imposed by the colonizer.
The project Postcards from the Homeland is based on an official series of postcards issued by the postal service. It is part of my long-term project At Home, which includes a series of performances, videos, photographs, objects, and curatorial projects.
Postcards from the Homeland is a project in which I explore the interaction between official narratives and personal space through collecting, working with local materials, and traditional practices. Through its simplicity and functionality, the postcard becomes a space for discussing self-censorship, personal boundaries, safety, language, and power. A private postcard collection is transformed into a media diary or a kind of instruction manual.
︎︎︎ Volha Maslouskaya ︎
Volha Maslouskay is an artist and curator, born in Brest, Belarus, in 1974.
Volha Maslouskaya is an interdisciplinary artist and curator working with performance, video art, objects, photography, and painting. She develops both solo projects and collaborative works as a member of the Bergamot art group, which she co-founded with Raman Tratsiuk in 1998 in Brest, Belarus.
Her artistic practice engages with themes of communication, control, power, boundaries, exclusion, introspection, gender relations, and social roles.
The beginning of work on a series developing the idea of embroidery on objects. This stage of the project involved research, with particular attention to the concept of mimicry and strategies of adaptation under unstable conditions.
Mimicry is understood as a way of interacting with an aggressive environment. In nature, some organisms imitate others — sometimes even predators — in order to avoid danger.
Beyond its biological dimension, I consider mimicry in a cultural and historical context: it is connected to postcolonial discourse, concepts of identity, and guerrilla tactics.
In “Mimicry and Man,” Homi Bhabha develops his concept of mimicry. He argues that the colonizer seeks to reform the Other and make them resemble themselves, but in such a way that difference is preserved. As a result, the colonizer can never fully transmit their beliefs to the colonized, who will always remain “almost white, but not quite.” Bhabha’s central argument is that mimicry, even unintentionally, can serve as an effective strategy of resistance. Although the colonized may rarely be aware of it, through mimicry they undermine the systems imposed by the colonizer.
The project Postcards from the Homeland is based on an official series of postcards issued by the postal service. It is part of my long-term project At Home, which includes a series of performances, videos, photographs, objects, and curatorial projects.
Postcards from the Homeland is a project in which I explore the interaction between official narratives and personal space through collecting, working with local materials, and traditional practices. Through its simplicity and functionality, the postcard becomes a space for discussing self-censorship, personal boundaries, safety, language, and power. A private postcard collection is transformed into a media diary or a kind of instruction manual.
︎︎︎ Volha Maslouskaya ︎
Volha Maslouskay is an artist and curator, born in Brest, Belarus, in 1974.
Volha Maslouskaya is an interdisciplinary artist and curator working with performance, video art, objects, photography, and painting. She develops both solo projects and collaborative works as a member of the Bergamot art group, which she co-founded with Raman Tratsiuk in 1998 in Brest, Belarus.
Her artistic practice engages with themes of communication, control, power, boundaries, exclusion, introspection, gender relations, and social roles.
