Nika Project Space in Dubai is thrilled to present Over the Slopes of Speech, a solo exhibit by artist Katya Muromtseva. It unveils her newest large-scale watercolour paintings depicting fluid figures which examine such themes as home, borders, refugees, and human destinies. The exhibition will be open to the public until the 4th of May, 2024.
Muromtseva produced the series of displayed art pieces after engaging with immigrants in America and during her month-long stay in the Emirates as a participant in the NIKA Project Space Research and Residency programme. In the UAE, the artist interviewed women who had relocated to the country for different reasons. So her colourful works on view are built on their narratives, reflecting the resilience of these female immigrants. The titles of the art pieces are dedications to each woman Muromtseva had a conversation with, for instance, To Maya or To Sarah.
For Muromtseva, who is an immigrant herself, delving into the theme of immigration is a way to find comfort and connection in shared experiences. According to her, history is written by politicians or historians influenced by politics, so she wanted to examine how history could be written by the people who have experienced it first-hand and how their stories could be told differently.
The title of the show, Over the Slopes of Speech, is inspired by No More And No Less, a poem by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. It is devoted to the importance of women and their refusal to play the roles forced on them by society that are often fed by contradictory and impossible expectations. The poem serves as a conceptual cornerstone for Muromtseva’s dreamlike watercolours that draw attention to those who are often invisible but are present in society.
About the artist
Katya Muromtseva (b. 1990, Moscow, USSR), a visual artist who resides in New York (USA), graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russia) with a BFA in Philosophy in 2012, which was followed by an MFA received from The Rodchenko Art School of Photography and Multimedia (Russia) in 2017. Additionally, her art education includes obtaining an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from VCU School of the Arts (USA), where she is presently teaching.
In her socially engaged practice deploying painting, video, and installation, the artist explores personal and collective memory. What interests her is the question of how to navigate political artistry within authoritarian contexts, eschewing direct aggression and turning to social empathy instead. The starting point for most of Muromtseva’s artworks based on historical paradoxes is interviews with individuals representing diverse social strata.
Muromtseva’s work has been the subject of many monographic exhibitions including Women in Black Against the War (Pushkin House, London, UK, 2023); Women In Black Against the War (Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, Japan, 2022); Time Difference (XL Gallery, Moscow, 2021); Quarter to Twelve (M HKA museum, Antwerp, Belgium, 2020); and others. The artist also has taken part in numerous group shows and art events, such as 73–23 (PAL Project Gallery, Paris, France, 2023); Steirischer Herbst Festival (Graz, Austria, 2022); Diversity United (Flughafen Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany, 2021); and Drei Tage bis zum Ende der Kunst (Gallery Nova, Zagreb, Croatia), to name a few.
Muromtseva is a recipient of multiple awards and grants. The list includes, for example, the Adjunct Professional Development Grant (VCU, 2023), the Edmund S. Muskie Professional Fellowship Program (2022), the Graduate Research and Thesis Grant (VCU, 2021), and WHW Academy (Zagreb, 2019–2020).
To get more information about Over the Slopes of Speech, please visit the show’s official web page.
You might also be interested in visiting A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose, Mandy El-Sayegh’s solo exhibit.
