KATYA ABLAMSKAYA

The basis of my work is the rethinking of the traditions of weaving with the use of non-standard alternative materials. I see myself as enfant terrible weaving.

Often my choice contrasts strongly with the usual perception of weaving as a woman’s work. I paint fishing nets, untangle metal sponges, cut polypropylene ropes, linen ropes, nylon cords into parts. I enjoy watching how objects change their appearance and meaning as they pass through the warp threads. A minute ago it was a waste of old wire, and now it’s part of the post-industrial landscape that I’m creating on my machine.

I make it my task to do everything that is "forbidden" in trellis practice. I’m bored of weaving with wool yarn, so I’m always on the lookout for materials that can turn into amazing textures.

Education
→ 1998−2007 School of Arts named after  S. G. Serdyuk, Kerch
→ 2010−2016 Moscow State Academy of Art and Industry named after  S.G. Stroganov, Art Textile Department
→ 2018 Moscow Union of Artists, Association of Artists of Decorative Arts

Membership in creative unions
→ 2018 Moscow Union of Artists, Association of Artists of Decorative Arts

Выставки
→ 2023 "ESC", Smol Gallery, Saint Petersburg
→ 2023 "WEAVING EVOLUTION", Atelier Choutko, Moscow
→ 2022 "Art Moscow", Gostiny Dvor, Moscow
→ 2021 "Texture, form, image", Atelier Choutko, Moscow
→ 2021 "Unity of Dissimilars", Moscow House of Artists, Moscow
→ 2018 "Decorative Art of Moscow", Moscow House of Artists, Moscow

Residences
→ 2021 ART BOOST Residence, GET ART FIT Online School
→ 2017 Art forum Tavrida, Sudak, Crimea, Russia
→ 2015 Picturesque plein air, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Russia
→ 2010 Art plein air, Lviv, Ukraine

Publications
→ 2023 "Arts and crafts", Interior+Design
→ 2023 "In  mode of autonomous significance", Codes of HPP2
→ 2022 "8 Contemporary Textile Artists", Design mate
→ 2022 "The whole world is framed: tapestries by artist Katya Ablamskaya", Seasons Life
→ 2021 "Weave fate. Textile artist Katya Ablamskaya, Exactly
→ 2020 "Katya Ablamskaya. Wild textile", podcast "Ne idle"
→ 2018 "Who weaves tapestries in the  XXI century", Poster

In works, I follow the ideas of upcycling — reuse of things not only gives them a "second life" in art, but and creates a sense of palimpsest, layering history and contexts.

The base stretched on the loom is the strongest creative impulse for me. On the one hand, this is a tribute to the centuries-old tradition, on the other hand, it is a blank canvas for my experiments. The slow, labor-intensive process of hand weaving, almost completely replaced by jacquard looms, remains for me personally a marker of authenticity in the technogenic world of fast speeds. Staying true to the format and shape of the trellis, I create an intricate textile surface inside.

It is the interweaving of traditional materials with found ones that help me reflect on the Anthropocene and the modern landscape, in which it is not clear where nature ends and changes created by human hands begin. The balance in which the real world with the energy of nature, elements, phenomena is opposed to the virtual world, which is rapidly changing our life and reality.