On September 27 at 18:00, the exhibition “Memory Effect” by Olha Fedorova will open at the ART Basement of the Kharkiv Municipal Gallery.

From the project concept:

“When a person acquires an object — finds, buys, creates it — they choose it, single it out from the vast space of things. By appropriating it, they make it part of their own cosmos.

By using an object, a person marks it with their presence. In addition to traces of the material body (sweat, blood, fragments of epithelium), they also leave traces of the metaphysical body on it. In magic, they are called “energy imprints.” The phenomenon of objects absorbing and preserving energy is called the “memory of things.”

It is believed that fabric has the greatest capacity for memory. The very structure of the material allows it to accumulate and preserve physical traces — a head on a pillow, a shoe on a carpet, wine stains on a formal tablecloth. Fabric items are in constant tactile contact with a person and play an important role in the system of their everyday life. Accompanying them for many years, furnishing their home and regulating their daily activities, they become witnesses to events not only of personal but also of family history. Bed linen, tablecloths, towels, and curtains observe the changing of generations, are present at births and deaths, mourning and celebrations, in everyday rituals and daily scenes — and absorb everything they see. Thus, household textiles become carriers of family memory.

In my project, I make objects that belonged to my family give me memories of its history. I release vague images of the past from the folds of aging fabric, bring back to life the memory of loved ones, of events — important and insignificant, but equally valuable, of feelings that I would like to experience again. To see the world in the days of its youth and to get acquainted with myself again. To postpone oblivion and have eternal life — through the eternal memory of times when there was no reason to doubt one’s own immortality.”