KARINA DRACHEVA
I DANCED HERE
(Saint Petersburg, Russia)
The words “I danced here” on the textile banner affixed to the Ivan Gaza House of Culture’s facade are a reference to the artist’s grandmother’s reminiscences, thanks to which this Soviet arts center is now part of the creator’s personal history.
“This spring, time stopped – possibly in order to make us start looking through our family archive of old boxes of photographs. They portray happy and sad moments from the distant past. Birthdays, weddings and funerals, photos from Grandma and Grandpa’s first dates. I see Grandma with coal-black hair, in a fancy dress: 1971, Siversky, at a concert at the Officer’s Club. Grandma performed with a small ensemble: concerts for the soldiers, dancing in Soviet houses of culture and officers’ clubs. Grandpa played the accordion…”
Karina Dracheva
Karina Dracheva is an artist hailing from St. Petersburg, Russia. She studied ceramics and glass working (grad. 2017) and metalworking (grad. 2019) at the St. Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design. She is currently enrolled in the Pro Arte School for Young Artists and the Rimsky-Korsakov Music School. Dracheva works in new media, ceramics, metal- and glasswork, drawing and illustration, and performance. Her work has been shown at festivals, group shows, and online in Russia, Latvia, France, Poland, and India.