In Russian, whenever somebody asks you how you are doing, you never say good but always just normal. It implies a constant state of surviving.
This show is about home, belonging, immigration and time standing still, or being stuck; along with my personal approach to my immigration journey as a first generation Russian-Ukranian immigrant to Vienna, Austria, now living in Bozeman, learning about heritage through pop culture and literature.
Anastasia Jermolaewa
“Babushka’s Tapochki - Grandma’s Slippers”
At the door sits a pair of used slippers, in Eastern European homes you always take your outside shoes off and put on slippers when you enter the home. Symbolizes the domestic space and leaving the worries of the world at the door, entering the safety and comfort of a home. Separating the outside from the inside.
“home body”
Four large keyrings are holding keys and keychains (either hanging on the wall or stacked on the floor). The individual key rings hold old lost keys, creating fictional characters, stories of long lost homes & dreams.
“One-Storied America”
In 1935 the satirical writers Ilfa Ilf and Jewgeni Petrov take a roadtrip through the United States. The title of the book refers to their impression that the cities of America consist mainly of one and two story buildings, in complete contrast to the popular image of America as the land of skyscrapers. Based on this sentence: America is primarily a one and two story country. The majority of the American population lives in small towns of three thousand, maybe five, nine, or fifteen thousand inhabitants.
For this work I am building a 60 x 30 x 50in. carpeted staircase into the gallery space, indicating a second story of the building and a classic American domestic space.
For a very long time One-Storied America was one of the only sources of information about the United States in the Soviet Union.
“Where Is America?”
“On the fitfth day of travel across the Atlantic Ocean, we saw the gigantic buildings of New York. America was before us. But when we had been in New York for a week and had begun, as we thought, to understand America, we were suddenly and unexpectedly told that New York isn’t America at all. We were told that New York is a bridge between Europe and America and that we were still just on the bridge.
Then we went to Washington, being firmly convinced that the capital of the United States would, undoubtedly, be America. We spent a day there and by evening we had fallen in love with that purely American city. However, that very evening we were told that on no account Washington could be considered America. We were told that it is the city of government clerks, while America is something completely different. Bewildered we went to Hartford, a city in the state of Connecticut, where the great American writer Mark Twain spent his mature years. Much to our horror, the locals announced in unison that Hartford isn’t exactly the real America either. They couldn’t say for certain where the actual America is located. Some said that the real America is in the southern states, while others maintained that it is in the western ones. A few didn’t say anything at all - they just pointed their fingers vaguely into space”
Resin fingers are sticking out of the walls throughout the gallery, pointing in different directions.
Ilf & Petrov never make it to the northern US on their travels, but I would argue that Montana is as American as it gets.
“I feel normal”
Sticky silicone footprints dance across the stage. The silicone resembles honey / wax, as if somebody danced with sticky feet and time stood still, leaving the marks as is. Honey bees are not native to northern America and were brought by European settlers. Bees are now an essential part of our lives and agriculture.
“The creation of the United States can be found in the footsteps of the Honeybee". (Apis Mellifera L.)
“crazy Russian dad”
“Mindless popping of Semechki by people, husks on the carpets of the houses represented a revolutionary chaos.”
Crazy Russian dad teaching how to eat seeds.