Svetlana Ochkovskaya
Winner Challenge 2021
I am a multidisciplinary artist exploring the intersection between sculpture,
installation, performance and film.
I make immersive, disorientating installations and wearable sculptures. My
work becomes a physically animated environment in which the sculptures and
their surroundings interconnect. I want to create a hidden world or microworld, which allows us to lose ourselves in space: the intersection of real and
imaginary space, lived and experienced space, perceived and conceived
space.
Social interconnectedness offers human beings a sense of identity and a way
to deal with their everyday emotions. The lockdown is a time of great anxiety
and uncertainty. I create a new fantastical world that offers an escape from
the daily routine and our mundane way of seeing. Fantasy helps us question
who we are and who we can become.
The pandemic inspired me to bring to life my wearable sculptures and create
a video performance combining real-life scenarios with elements of humour
and fantasy. The film is a projection of my imagination from my personal
experiences; as a wife, mother and artist.
Through performance in the otherworldly sculptural costumes, I make familiar
things unfamiliar: giving everyday experiences a new meaning Education:
2017 - 2020 MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths University of London
2014 - 2017 BA First Class Honours Degree in Fine Art, Southampton Solent
University 2013 - 2014 Art and Design BTEC Diploma Level 3, Portsmouth
Highbury College
Awards:
2021
May, Zealous Stories: Sculpture 2021, winner
May, Batsford Art Prize 2020-2021, Fine Art category, shortlisted
April, Zealous Stories: Photography 2021, shortlisted
February, Lucky Dip Bursary ‘a space’ arts, winner
2020
October, Sunny Art Prize 2020, winner
June, Zealous Stories: Performance 2020, shortlisted
May, Arts Council England Covid-19 Emergency Fund
2019
November, Harvest Short Film Competition 2019, shortlisted
July, London Contemporary Art Prize, longlisted
April, Batsford Prize Award 2019, shortlisted
2018
January, The News Guide Award Portsmouth, Best Visual Artist, runner-up
October, Journeys Festival International Competition LookUp Portsmouth, finalist
May, Nasty Women International Art Prize 2018, shortlisted
May, Visual Art Open Prize 2018, Digital Category, finalist
January, The News Guide Award Portsmouth, Best Visual Artist, shortlisted
2017
September, Platform Graduate Award 2017, shortlisted (nominated by Aspex)
July, Artisan Photography Competition, Digital Creative Category, winner
June, Fine Art Award for Achievement and Outstanding Practice, Southampton
Solent University May, Batsford Prize Award 2017, shortlisted
September, International Response Scholarship Award 2017, Goldsmiths
University
Who am I? To whom do I belong? Who belongs to me? I want to explore
these timeless questions of finding communion with nature and a sense of
belonging.
I made a wearable sculpture from elements of nature (pebbles, Christmas
trees, catkins). Through the visual transformation of the human body,
blending with their natural environments, I want to encapsulate that humans
and nature are one.
In these hyperreal times, we become more conscious of our true relationship
with nature; we need to understand that we deeply connected with it; it is vital
to our survival.
Title: Adapting to the New Reality of Life Under Lockdown
Medium: wearable sculptures, photography, video performance
Date: 2020 -2021
