the bomb: one hour art
This project began as a fashion collection inspired by suicide bombers that supposed to be presented at Oxford Fashion Week but took an unexpected turn when the box containing her work was misplaced in a London office for months. This bizarre twist of fate transformed her collection into a metaphorical "bomb in a box," sitting unnoticed in the corner, holding latent energy and waiting to explode into visibility. The experience resonated deeply with her, evoking feelings of being a silent disruptor—her work confined, unacknowledged, yet brimming with potential to confront and challenge once unveiled. In her performance at Centraal Museum Utrecht during One Hour Art, Yelena unpacked the box and embodied its contents, modelling her creations in front of the audience. She changed clothes multiple times during the performance, walking in and out of the public’s view, disrupting their expectations of a conventional fashion show. The audience, initially unsure of how to respond, began to applaud each return to the stage, their reaction evolving into a recognition of her presence and agency. This performance transcended fashion, becoming a confrontation with vulnerability. The act of dressing and redressing in public symbolized the layers of identity and self-presentation women navigate daily, reflecting feminist critiques of visibility, objectification, and the labor of self-reinvention. By bringing her "bomb in a box" to life in a museum space typically reserved for established artists, Yelena disrupted notions of exclusivity and transformed it into a site of experimental inclusivity. Her work became a feminist intervention, challenging traditional power structures and emphasizing the latent force of marginalized voices breaking free from containment.
