CREES Noon Lecture. Artist’s Talk on Threading the Needle: Vestiges of Colonialism and Femininity

Gluklya (Natalya Pershina Yakimanskaya) will present her research on the exploitation of women working in the textile and fashion industries of Kyrgyzstan, related to her exhibit on display in the International Institute’s gallery from March 11 to May 4.

In 2020, the artist was invited by Moscow’s Garage Museum of Contemporary Art to participate in the research laboratory Space 1520, devoted to Soviet and post-Soviet colonialism. Upon discovering that Kyrgyzstan is a major player in the textile industries that produce garments mainly for export to the Russian market, Gluklya traveled to Bishkek. She was allowed to visit factories and meet with textile workers. The stories she heard, and conditions she encountered, profoundly changed her view of reality.

Returning to Amsterdam, the title of her monumental exhibition at Framer Framed, "To Those Who Have No Time To Play," evolved from her visits to the home of the seamstress Rahat. Shocked by the living conditions she witnessed, her well thought-out and researched questions were no longer relevant. Instead, the artist engaged Rahat by asking how she played as a child.

In this lecture, Gluklya will share her approach of using imagination and play to explore the harsh realities and human side of labor experiences among female garment workers.

Gluklya (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya) is a pioneer of Russian feminist performance art, and she lives and works in Amsterdam. She uses installation, performance, video, watercolor, text, and research to develop a concept of “fragility” — a subject that should be interpreted not in the sense of “beauty,” but as “invisible strength.” In her projects, she addresses her characters’ personal stories, analyzing them and revealing the conflict between political systems and one’s inner world.

Her work process is playful, and her studio often turns into a meeting place where people work together on conceptualizing clothes and making other useable artistic items. Gluklya’s oeuvre speaks of indignation and hope. With her projects she proposes poetic ways to resist injustice and to find empowerment.

At the 56th Venice Biennale, Gluklya presented "Clothes in Demonstration against the False Election of Vladimir Putin" (2011 – 2015) in the exhibition "All the World’s Futures," curated by Okwui Enwezor. The installation documents hope, dreams, and traumas of people who went into the streets in 2011-15 to demonstrate against the oppressive government. For her research for "Two Natures of Colonialism: Russian and European/Lives and Work of Oppressed Women," Gluklya visited Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan from 2019-2022. Those experiences continue to have a strong influence on her work.

Illustration credit: Gluklya

If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us at crees@umich.edu. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.