Alexandra Sukhareva

Alexandra Sukhareva (b. 1983, Moscow, Russia) lives and works in Moscow and Dubna, Russia. She is a visual artist and author of process-oriented works often affecting the phenomena of the mutual influence of matter and cognition. In her practice, Sukhareva usually explores the languages of chemical processes. For instance, the series of chlorine canvases are based on the process of burning, whereas light is understood not only as an omnipresent agent related to life and desire but also as a latent medium of destruction. In Sukhareva’s research, the artist’s objective is to investigate the variety of channels and spiritual domains through which people seek something to confide in the face of uncertainty. Sukhareva focuses on documenting traces of human experiences that signify how hope could initiate alternative ontologies capable of influencing the blockade of life: prolonging it, pulling out of dystrophy, or redirecting its course. The project took the shape of a library archive: four boxes keep the documents and mention personalities representing the gnostic mythologeme of the blockade. Her work, Ligeia (2019), was created as an unannounced performance. Its aesthetical nature lies in the phenomenological essence of contact. Ligeia was designed as a model of continuous connectivity conveyed through internally embodied action, which was rethought by Edgar Poe’s novel.

Portrait: Photo by Ivan Erofeevjpeg