MY NAME IS
Evgeniia Belkova
I am a contemporary interdisciplinary artist.
My research is based on the phenomenon of marginality in the broad sense of a borderline state of social role loss. A special focus on the marginalization of the author's role in view of the actualization of the study of the influence of non-human agents on the role in creativity.
MY NAME IS
Evgeniia Belkova
I am a contemporary interdisciplinary artist.
My research is based on the phenomenon of marginality in the broad sense of a borderline state of social role loss. A special focus on the marginalization of the author's role in view of the actualization of the study of the influence of non-human agents on the role in creativity.
My research is based on the phenomenon of marginality in its broad meaning of a borderline state of loss of social role. I consider marginality not as asociality and deviation, but as a state of social limbo, a place between the past and the unobvious future, in which every person finds himself or herself in one way or another. Migration, job loss, change of cultural context, alienation of civil rights, even motherhood - all these are moments in which a person can lose his or her former supports and is forced to search for his or her identity anew. Today, the experience of marginality is not only experienced individually; it becomes a background sense of time. Global changes in the political, economic and ethical landscapes are dislocating us from our usual coordinates.
Not only persons, social groups, but also artistic practices can be marginalized, which also becomes the object of my research. For example, the fact of using AI as a tool becomes a new layer of research: it questions the boundaries of authorship, breaks the usual ideas about the role of the tool and one's own contribution to art. I expand the boundaries of the theme by resorting to different mediums and tools: painting, digital art, graphics, experimental organic materials.
The graphic works of the “Marginalia” and “Cooperation” series are tattoos in the literal sense: pigment injected deep into the organic material. Scoby leather is bacterial cellulose, formed during the fermentation of a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast - which I grow and process myself. The tattoo is a symbolic point of intersection between the marginal and the mainstream. The simplified techniques and hypertrophied subjects of my “tattoos” support the subjects and ideas of the research, developing them. Tattooed, pierced scoby leather provocatively brings to mind real human skin.
Scoby leather tattoos become a means of conveying stories through the perception of corporeality, I suggest “trying on” the experience of my characters, feeling it “on my skin”. Accepting a difficult situation as a transitory, and therefore temporary, state can be deeply supportive for a marginalized person. And applying the ambiguous term “marginality” to one's own situation can expand the boundaries of acceptance of other persons' experiences.
Not only persons, social groups, but also artistic practices can be marginalized, which also becomes the object of my research. For example, the fact of using AI as a tool becomes a new layer of research: it questions the boundaries of authorship, breaks the usual ideas about the role of the tool and one's own contribution to art. I expand the boundaries of the theme by resorting to different mediums and tools: painting, digital art, graphics, experimental organic materials.
The graphic works of the “Marginalia” and “Cooperation” series are tattoos in the literal sense: pigment injected deep into the organic material. Scoby leather is bacterial cellulose, formed during the fermentation of a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast - which I grow and process myself. The tattoo is a symbolic point of intersection between the marginal and the mainstream. The simplified techniques and hypertrophied subjects of my “tattoos” support the subjects and ideas of the research, developing them. Tattooed, pierced scoby leather provocatively brings to mind real human skin.
Scoby leather tattoos become a means of conveying stories through the perception of corporeality, I suggest “trying on” the experience of my characters, feeling it “on my skin”. Accepting a difficult situation as a transitory, and therefore temporary, state can be deeply supportive for a marginalized person. And applying the ambiguous term “marginality” to one's own situation can expand the boundaries of acceptance of other persons' experiences.
Evgeniia Belkova was born in 1986 in Yaroslavl, Russia. She lives and works in St. Petersburg.
She was educated in social sciences and worked in research projects for several years, which shaped her interest in the study of social processes. Creative ambitions were realized in the professional occupation of graphic and web design. Since 2015, Evgeniia has been focused on art.
Today her works are in private collections in Russia, USA, UK, Canada, Australia and France, as well as in the collection of the Russian Gallery XXI Century magazine and in the collection of paintings of the Non-Profit Foundation for Promotion of National Culture and Art. Since 2019, she has participated in group exhibitions in galleries and museums in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in international online projects. Exhibitions include the exhibitions “Me, About Me” and “My Page” at the Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art.
The central theme of Evgeniia's artistic research is the phenomenon of marginality as a borderline state of social uncertainty and transition between a lost role and a new identity not yet acquired.
Education
2025 - Annual educational program
“Selling and Promoting Art for the Artist in Russia and Abroad”, curated by Maria Hiltunen (Sedoshenko).
2021 - course “I realize myself in the context of contemporary art”, lecturer Maria Hiltunen (Sedoshenko).
2009 - Yaroslavl State University, specialty “Political Science”.
She was educated in social sciences and worked in research projects for several years, which shaped her interest in the study of social processes. Creative ambitions were realized in the professional occupation of graphic and web design. Since 2015, Evgeniia has been focused on art.
Today her works are in private collections in Russia, USA, UK, Canada, Australia and France, as well as in the collection of the Russian Gallery XXI Century magazine and in the collection of paintings of the Non-Profit Foundation for Promotion of National Culture and Art. Since 2019, she has participated in group exhibitions in galleries and museums in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in international online projects. Exhibitions include the exhibitions “Me, About Me” and “My Page” at the Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art.
The central theme of Evgeniia's artistic research is the phenomenon of marginality as a borderline state of social uncertainty and transition between a lost role and a new identity not yet acquired.
Education
2025 - Annual educational program
“Selling and Promoting Art for the Artist in Russia and Abroad”, curated by Maria Hiltunen (Sedoshenko).
2021 - course “I realize myself in the context of contemporary art”, lecturer Maria Hiltunen (Sedoshenko).
2009 - Yaroslavl State University, specialty “Political Science”.
2022 - group exhibition “External Noise. Inner Silence”, Fund of Cultural Projects “Thursday”, Moscow.
2021 - group exhibition “My Page”, Erarta Museum of Modern Art, St. Petersburg.
2021 - international online exhibition “The Sleepоver“.
2021 - group exhibition “Visibility”, Sevkabel Port, St. Petersburg.
2021 - group exhibition “Watching the Earthlings”, gallery “Here on Taganka”, Moscow.
2021 - group exhibition “Invisible Women”, Fund of Cultural Projects “Thursday”, Moscow.
2020 - group exhibition “Me, about me, about me”, Erarta Museum of Modern Art, St. Petersburg.
2020 - group exhibition “In isolation”, U.Ge gallery, St. Petersburg.
2019 - group exhibition “Art Debut”, gallery “Colors of Life”, St. Petersburg.
2021 - group exhibition “My Page”, Erarta Museum of Modern Art, St. Petersburg.
2021 - international online exhibition “The Sleepоver“.
2021 - group exhibition “Visibility”, Sevkabel Port, St. Petersburg.
2021 - group exhibition “Watching the Earthlings”, gallery “Here on Taganka”, Moscow.
2021 - group exhibition “Invisible Women”, Fund of Cultural Projects “Thursday”, Moscow.
2020 - group exhibition “Me, about me, about me”, Erarta Museum of Modern Art, St. Petersburg.
2020 - group exhibition “In isolation”, U.Ge gallery, St. Petersburg.
2019 - group exhibition “Art Debut”, gallery “Colors of Life”, St. Petersburg.
Marginalias
Work Series. Tattoo on SCOBY leather.
L'etat с'est moi
The Beast
Illusions
The Abduction by Europe