Zhanna Kadyrova

Brovary (1981)

Una Boccata d’Arte 2021, Zhanna Kadyrova, LANDMARKS, Tolfa (RM), Lazio. Courtesy: Fondazione Elpis and Galleria Continua. Ph. Monkeys Video Lab.

The artist will realize a site-specific work in the village of Tolfa, in Lazio. Her practise, which from the start has dealt with different disciplines such as drawing, performance and sculpture, focuses deeply on space. Often diverting the aesthetic canons of the socialist ideal still present in contemporary Ukrainian heritage, Kadyrova’s perspective is partially inspired by plastic and symbolic values of urban building materials, such as ceramics, glass, stone and concrete. In 2012, she won the Kazimir Malevich Artist Award and in 2013, the PinchukArtCentre Prize. In 2019, she participated in the 58th Venice Biennale. For more info: www.kadyrova.com/. Her Elpis collaborator is Veronica Siciliani Fendi.

«I have been working on site specific projects for 7 years. Una Boccata d’Arte is an adventure that echoes in me in many ways. The concept of decentralization is crucial to me. It is a perpetual shift between the many and various local contexts, something that gives me endless new sources of information, energies and inspiration. I’m honored to participate in this second edition tailored to the village of Tolfa».

The exhibition

LANDMARKS

curated by Veronica Siciliani Fendi

The modern ruins of LANDMARKS arise from observing the everyday life of a village, almost unchanged over time, and from the desire to mark the main places of different historical periods which characterize an area bounded by the ancient hills of Etruria and the Tyrrhenian coasts.
This project gives continuity to the artist’s interest in reusing waste materials, as those recovered in urban spaces and, sometimes, in abandoned buildings, in her anti-monumental works.
Inside the courtyard of Palazzo Buttaoni, today the seat of the new municipal library, Kadyrova created the sculpture of an archetypal hero, by putting in contrast the image of an ancient ruin wrapped in spontaneous vegetation with the concrete material it is made of. Fascinated by the Necropolis of Pian Conserva and by the history of Etruscan culture, the artist creates a miniature of the village of Tolfa, clearly recognizable by the original chimneys on the roofs. Inside a row of small stables, Kadyrova has arranged a series of fragmented mosaics made with multiform materials and different colors, such as marble and pebbles collected in the territory of the Tolfa Mountains. These old shelters for rabbits and chickens become almost sacred places where you can discover the imaginary ruins of ancient mosaics.
Through the use of building materials such as slate, metal, concrete, and ancient sculptural techniques, the artist reveals in her work each of their aesthetic potential, poetic power and essence.
All the artworks have been realized in collaboration with Denys Ruban.

Free access except for Palazzo Buttaoni: Thursday-Sunday 10am – 8pm.

The village

Tolfa, Lazio

42°08’58.2″N 11°55’53.0″E

Una Boccata d’Arte 2021, Zhanna Kadyrova, LANDMARKS. Panoramic view of Tolfa (RM), Lazio. Courtesy: Fondazione Elpis and Galleria Continua. Ph. Monkeys Video Lab.

Tolfa is a village in Lazio with 5,074 residents, part of the province of Rome, which is 78km away. Monti della Tolfa extend for about 17,000 hectares north-west of Rome and possess unique environmental characteristics: holm oaks, hornbeams, oaks, hollies, myrtle, heather, juniper and beautiful orchids add color and life to the landscape in every season of the year. Tolfa’s local stone houses speak to its medieval heritage. The town also stands out for its promotion of cultural initiatives to attract international tourism, such as Tolfarte – International Festival of Street Art and Tolfajazz.

→ Download the press release
→ Download the invitation

Acknowledgments:
the Mayor Luigi Landi, the Deputy Mayor Stefania Bentivoglio, the Councilor for Culture Tomasa Pala, Ettore Kayta, Stefano Della Corte and Briseld Taflaj, Olga Obukhovich, Fabio Verbo, Kuralai Abdukhalikova, Marco Muneroni, Marta De Angelis, Denys Ruban.

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