Eva Holts’ "emergency residency" takes place this Winter, as part of the LAZNIA CCA’s cooperation program for Ukrainian artists and curators, created as a result of the current war. Residents have the opportunity to live in the residency rooms of the LAZNIA 2 CCA, to take part with the current projects of the institution, as well as conduct their own initiatives and research.
Eva Holts was born in 1994, in Chernihiv, Ukraine, lives and works in Kyiv. She is a Historian by training. She has graduated from the Conceptual Course and Fine Art Photography at MYPH school in 2020.
Artist’s statement about her practice:
I work with toys mostly, Barbie in particular. Barbie is an interesting object to explore, because these dolls are created in the image and likeness of a human being. They are static, always smiling and happy with everything happening to them, no matter what is really going on during the photo session. And it looks strange and unnatural, so it makes you think about the limits of what is really acceptable.
My work is based on images that emerge from the depths of the subconscious. Therefore, I am completely okay with free interpretation of my pieces along with my own vision. I am interested in the topic of violence against the human will, probably because I grew up in a religious family. Sometimes, you can feel the tension that is about to explode between the characters, and my job is to ensure I show them a minute before the total loss of self-control… Although, you know that Barbies smile in spite of everything and anything.I like creating an alternative world for my characters. Simply painted decorations are emphasizing all the fantasticality of situations. I also like integrating them into everyday life, hinting that the world is not as obvious as we all might be used to thinking of it, and it is full of secrets indeed.
I often use food as an equal participant of my works. I have kind of a sacred attitude to it because once I fasted a lot and could not eat any of the things I really wanted. And now, seeing its importance during the war, I finally became convinced that food is a necessity for survival and life (and food is a key factor of deciding whether a person survives or not).
During the war, I discovered a collage. I am trying to understand, how do the buildings that have been turned into embers/ruins survive. Including the apartment where I used to live in before the war.