painful subjects
This project was initiated in 2016 as a visual diary on Instagram. It reflects both a feminist critique of the demands on women’s creative labor and an exploration of how social media shapes artistic expression. Documenting one artwork each day, Yelena embraced the motto, “start where you are, do what you can with what you have,” as an intentional rejection of the traditionally privileged studio setting. Instead, Yelena worked against a modest white wall in her home and used everyday, often discarded, objects due to financial limitations. Her commitment to creating with minimal resources echoes feminist theories that value resilience and resourcefulness, challenging the notion that substantial resources or ideal conditions are necessary for meaningful creative work. By using mundane materials and transforming her home environment into a creative space, Yelena's project examines the intersections between personal space, artistic labor, and societal expectations of women’s roles. Her practice reveals how women artists often adapt to limitations that stem from broader systemic inequities, such as lack of funding or spatial autonomy. Furthermore, her relationship with objects, intensified by her obsessive-compulsive tendencies, brings a visceral, unsettling quality to her work that reflects a feminist perspective on consumerism and material excess. Objects in her pieces carry the weight of psychological and emotional entanglement, confronting viewers with the discomfort she experiences. Yelena’s project, therefore, not only subverts the conventional artistic process but also questions how women artists navigate spaces that both restrict and inspire, reimagining scarcity as a fertile ground for innovation and critical introspection.
