SERIES   "SIBERIA"

 

           An artist, being a voice of the entire generation, can not help but react on the relevant issue. The environment became one of nowadays issues. It is our common, global calamity, that pervades each of the Earth dwellers. 

           The artist Yana Kaplan and the architect Ilya Mackotinskiy have created their personal art-manifesto, drawing the attention to the global environmental problem, in the art series, dedicated to native Siberian lands.

           We leveraged the polyethylene that had been already in use. Moreover, instead of the canvas, we take advantage of the materials of the German company Klopman, which produces the fabric made of recycled polyethylene. 

           The key elements of the artwork are traditional colors and ornaments of indigenous peoples of Siberia and the North. Based on the vital perception of the environment, the ornament gets to be a symbol of harmony of a human and nature. Besides, the traditional belief in the magic power of patterns reminds the fact that a human can always ask the nature for its shelter and protection.    

A human, forgetting about roots and values, started to take the forest merely for the source of consumption, ruthlessly draining it! Apart from the annual fires, forests are suffering from the widespread legal and illegal cuttings and inefficient forest management without proper care about forest reproduction. A symbol of the barbarian devastation and consumerism toward forest is wild animals, the silhouettes of which are captured in the artworks. Fires and endless cuttings are destroying the natural habitat of the unique taiga species, their population is decreasing, most of them get to be on the verge of extinction. It is significant to note, the data on the animals’ population is approximate, thus we are unable to estimate the scope of the disaster.

           One more problem pointed out in our series of works is the pollution of the environment. The amount of domestic waste is constantly growing, the garbage appears to be even there where no one has gone before. We are surrounded by an enormous number of disposable things, difficult-to-recycle products, and various packages. The great number of wastes are thrown away after 5 minutes of using the product, and we do not even have a single thought about its further destiny.

           The artworks from this series become a visual call for the cutting down and the secondary of wastes. Professional art material is on an equal basis with garbage: for instance, the packages of the canvas and framing are used in the work, otherwise, they could have been sent to the landfill.

           Relying on the local curtain example of Siberia, at the same time we are speaking about global issues, as far as the influence of any ecological disaster spreads all over the world. The wild forests of Russia are not only the national wealth but also a highly important element of the climate balance on our planet. Hence, it is so crucial to pay attention to forest protection from fires, pollution, and various rule-breaks. It is necessary to protect the habitat of animals, to decrease the number of wastes, and also to be more responsible for the abundance of nature and its reproduction. It is the only way we can prevent global climate catastrophe.