“Strategies of discovering the other – be it a person, a thing, or a place – can be quite different. Elena Kostenko’s artistic research method is an interaction with raw materials and primary sources. The idea of researching local contexts through raw materials and analogue photography emerged in the artist’s practice some years ago, and with each new movement, new art forms have emerged, compiling her experience. The artist brings their ideas to life by focusing on a core aspect of materiality, determined by the raw materials. Each material has its unique qualities, and technical, and expressive capabilities that allow a message to be conveyed with nuances. This is why she works with local clay, which, through its plastic qualities, sets the main body of the project, while film photography and sound add some depth to it.

The artist interacts sensorially with the terrain: working with clay allows one to feel the place, the location at the level of the body; the sounds characteristic of the given territory penetrate through hearing; photography, corrected for the randomness of analogue processes, conveys the images obtained through visual and distant observation. The working process, driven by a dialogue between the artist, materials, and place, contributes to the momentous expressions in static, solid impressions…”

written by Kristina Gorlanova, translated by Elena Kostenko

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