Potato / Картупель

Zine / Exhibition / Curation / 2023–2024

A collaborative project exploring potato harvesting practices in a Komi village, developed as a series of field studies on women's cultivation practices in rural environments. The project became a collaboration between mother and daughter.

Zine (2023)

The art publication documents observations of potato harvesting in a Komi village. Together with my mother, artist Anzhelika Van-In, we made graphic sketches while talking with neighbours. Based on their stories, we compiled a series of memories and impressions about the potato harvesting process. The zine consists of five interrelated sections: collection, community, storage, preparation.

Exhibition — National Library of the Komi Republic (July 2024)

The exhibition Картупель presents a cycle of graphic works in hand-printing techniques based on the zine. The central motif — potato tubers — preserves the memory of the earth. The drawing style and colour palette are dictated by the structure of the soil. This understanding embraces a global dimension, viewing the earth as a common home for all living things, while the land simultaneously acquires a local character — becoming an archive of oral knowledge passed down in villages, from mother to daughter.

Exhibition — Rural Library, Kozhmudor (July–August 2024)

After its showing at the National Library, the works moved to the rural library in the village of Kozhmudor, where field research was ongoing — bringing the art back to the community that inspired it.

Artist: Anzhelika Van-In
Publishers: Nika Grigorian, Nickolas Daniel da Silva
Curator: Nika Grigorian
Collaboration: Tatiana Kolechkova, Nadezhda Kozlova