fisherman's wife
This series was created as part of the Naked State residency in Canada. The focus was on exploring the nude human body in context of nature, culture and art. For the duration of the 10-day residency, the artists and residency facilitator lived as naturists (in the nude) within the naturist community of Bare Oaks Family Naturist Park to create works about nudity in public space.
Out of experimentation with the initial concept of working with art historical body language, Yelena came across a fascinating image. While moving around with plants in her hands she squatted down into a mythical shape. A birthing goddess that encompasses the male and female elements emerged. Yelena took this idea inside to play with indoor plants. As the pictures progress, the vegetation gets increasingly larger until the plant kingdom triumphs over Yelena. However, the series also resembles "The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife", a woodblock-printed shunga design by the Japanese artist Hokusai. This erotic print depicts a young diver sexually entwined with a pair of octopuses.
