O negative | exhibition |

A solo exhibition project

2023

"My name is Olya. I have type O negative blood. Thanks to the Rh factor, there was no conflict between me and my mother, and I was born alive and on time—at six in the morning on September 27. Since then, the number of a potential donor has always been written in my jacket pocket, in my backpack, and now—in my passport and phone. Just in case I get a little less lucky. When I’m the one who’s needed, the same scheme applies: my number lies in someone else’s passport.

I often think about the rules the body sets—its ways of control, its game strategy that I’ve been handed. Who’s in charge: the body or me? Who’s winning?
And I get so angry when the body won’t give me freedom—no lightness, no clarity, no strength. But sometimes I wonder if, maybe, it’s protecting me—just enough for me to remain myself. Headaches shield me from careless or dishonest words, dizziness from unstable relationships, cramped muscles from burdens I simply cannot carry.
As if psychosomatics worked in reverse: you just have to listen and follow instructions. Otherwise, a transfusion from an incompatible donor can be fatal.

Would I have become an artist or writer if not for my struggle with the body? Unlikely. Will I survive if it stops protecting me? Also unlikely. In my practice, I work with a space outside of time, where you can examine any object at any moment of its being—slowly, without pain. And, as if looking at myself from a distance, I see clearly: if my body is not here, then neither is my name."

Curators: Olga Tumanova, Evgenia Voinova
2023