VESTMENTS
24.07.2021
Presentation of Varvara Grankova's Project at VSW History Museum.
Presentation of Varvara Grankova's Project at VSW History Museum.
During the time of her residency, Varvara completed a project having to do with the public image of a cleric.
"This project is an attempt to re-examine the experience of growing up as a clergyman's family member. Like vestments, I shed the memories and the behaviors of a religious family and filter them through actual clergyman's attributes", Varvara narrates.
In almost all global religions, a priest, a pastor, a minister, or a guru is a guide between God and humans. But frequently, people start to think of a clergyman as a person of power and trust and expect sanctity forgetting that even after taking his vows, a cleric remains a human being with all a human being's weaknesses and vices.
Frequently, when they come to church, people expect a miracle from the rituals and then become upset with God when their requests are not granted. Alternatively, church members start consulting their priest for every significant and insignificant decision in their lives passing the responsibility for the outcome of such decisions on to the minister. Many controversial statements and actions by individual members of the clergy were presented by the media as an official church position. This idolatry of human beings which is contrary to the tenets of the church itself results in adverse consequences for the member of the clergy in question, the faithful, and the entire church institution.
We see a false and distorted image of the church as an institution woven from memory fragments, disconnected personal experiences, and media headlines taken out of context, as well as an incorrectly perceived image of God.
The materials for the installation were collected by Varvara with the assistance of Vyksa residents that brought old clothing from home at the artist's request. The artist was assisted in preparing a presentation and building the installation by volunteers from the Thursday Foundation that the Vyksa art residence has partnered with.
"This project is an attempt to re-examine the experience of growing up as a clergyman's family member. Like vestments, I shed the memories and the behaviors of a religious family and filter them through actual clergyman's attributes", Varvara narrates.
In almost all global religions, a priest, a pastor, a minister, or a guru is a guide between God and humans. But frequently, people start to think of a clergyman as a person of power and trust and expect sanctity forgetting that even after taking his vows, a cleric remains a human being with all a human being's weaknesses and vices.
Frequently, when they come to church, people expect a miracle from the rituals and then become upset with God when their requests are not granted. Alternatively, church members start consulting their priest for every significant and insignificant decision in their lives passing the responsibility for the outcome of such decisions on to the minister. Many controversial statements and actions by individual members of the clergy were presented by the media as an official church position. This idolatry of human beings which is contrary to the tenets of the church itself results in adverse consequences for the member of the clergy in question, the faithful, and the entire church institution.
We see a false and distorted image of the church as an institution woven from memory fragments, disconnected personal experiences, and media headlines taken out of context, as well as an incorrectly perceived image of God.
The materials for the installation were collected by Varvara with the assistance of Vyksa residents that brought old clothing from home at the artist's request. The artist was assisted in preparing a presentation and building the installation by volunteers from the Thursday Foundation that the Vyksa art residence has partnered with.
Varvara Grankova
1988
Varvara Grankova is a Russian illustrator and designer, an artist of the Roy art group.
Graduated from the National Institute of Design, School of Contemporary Art «Free Workshops».
Participant of the «Open studios» program at Winzavod. Winner of the Special sustainable art of Arte Laguna prize 2021, finalist of Arte Laguna 2020 in the virtual art nomination. Winner of Tretyakovprize 2018, participant of the first Feminale of Contemporary Art. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions since 2012.
In 2018, she opened her first solo exhibition «Nonviolence» at the Museum of Modern Art.
In her practice, Varvara uses such mediums as installation, graphics, digital art and performance, in which her own voice plays a significant role. The illustrator explores social issues, ecology, violence and feminism. Varvara tries not only to pay attention to socially significant problems, but also to look for ways to solve them. The basis of projects is often the real stories of people that the designer collects through personal meetings.
The artist's works are in the collection of MMOMA and were exhibited at the Moscow exhibition grounds, including the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, VZ Gallery on Taganka, Museum of Moscow, CTI Factory, Zverev Center for Contemporary Art and the State Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val.
Graduated from the National Institute of Design, School of Contemporary Art «Free Workshops».
Participant of the «Open studios» program at Winzavod. Winner of the Special sustainable art of Arte Laguna prize 2021, finalist of Arte Laguna 2020 in the virtual art nomination. Winner of Tretyakovprize 2018, participant of the first Feminale of Contemporary Art. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions since 2012.
In 2018, she opened her first solo exhibition «Nonviolence» at the Museum of Modern Art.
In her practice, Varvara uses such mediums as installation, graphics, digital art and performance, in which her own voice plays a significant role. The illustrator explores social issues, ecology, violence and feminism. Varvara tries not only to pay attention to socially significant problems, but also to look for ways to solve them. The basis of projects is often the real stories of people that the designer collects through personal meetings.
The artist's works are in the collection of MMOMA and were exhibited at the Moscow exhibition grounds, including the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, VZ Gallery on Taganka, Museum of Moscow, CTI Factory, Zverev Center for Contemporary Art and the State Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val.
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