SLEEP TIGHT (9:38 min), 2024
The performance is a reaction to the murder of Alexei Navalny, whose death was a foregone conclusion, but therefore no less tragic. On July 4, he would have turned 48 years old. On the day of the burial, so many flowers were brought to Navalny’s burial site that they completely covered the wooden cross installed on the grave (its height is usually about 1.7 meters). This image was imprinted in my head and formed the main visual style for the performance. It was important for me to preserve the fullness of the context, while keeping the performance readable and clear for the non-Russian community as well, so I chose a simple and plain motif of plucked flowers, which is understandable to everyone outside the political, social and cultural context. The posthumous tenderness for what habitually needs no care becomes a conscious transfer of lived feelings and attitudes to an inanimate object: if I cannot pay my last tribute personally, I will dedicate it to something that was born to be thrown away.
Despite the fact that the performance was a response to one specific death, the repressive machine of the totalitarian regime did not only affect Alexei Navalny. His death caused a strong global resonance, but it was not the first and, I am afraid, will not be the last. Each flower from the bouquet was carefully placed in his personal grave. Each flower will not be forgotten.
