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Paulina Siniatkina

Paulina Siniatkina

Artist and activist

Born in Moscow in 1989                                                                       

Based in Amsterdam

I truly believe art is the key to social transformations. Through my art practice, I address social issues involving stigma, mainly in Russia and Eastern European countries where stigmatization of marginalized groups is still a very real and life-threatening problem. 

In 2015 I survived tuberculosis and decided to devote my artistic practice to fighting stigma and the concept of 'normality'. Being physically alienated, locked inside a hospital for many months, and facing judgment when I was discharged, I recreate these peculiar experiences through my artworks. Not by leading the viewer through trauma, but by showing its normality:  you may find as much bad, as good in it. I intend to make my viewer my equal; I want to open the discussion around social taboos.

Along with the concept of de-stigmatization I work with the theme of  “corporality”. In fact, these subjects are strongly connected, as it's essential for me to work through my personal experience.

I work with painting, sculpture, installation, video, and performance.

CV

EDUCATION

2022 - 2023 – ArtEZ University of the arts, Netherlands

2017 - 2018 – School of Contemporary Art at MMOMA (Moscow Museum of Modern Art)

2007 - 2013 – Moscow State Academic Art Institute Named after V.I. Surikov, specialisation – artist painter (monumental painting)

GRANTS, EVENTS

2022 – Nederlands Letterenfonds

2022 – Holland scholarship 

2019 – Exchange program IVLP “Promoting social change through the arts”, nominated by the US Embassy in Russia, USA

2019 – Grant of the MOCT Foundation (UK), winner of the Cube Art Residency program, Moscow

2018 – UN General Assembly on Tuberculosis (IFRC delegation), New York

2016 – Member and co-founder of TBpeople - the first international network of people with experience of tuberculosis, Bratislava

2015 – Member of the international association of art UNESCO, Russian Union of Artists

2013 -  Laureate of the grant of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation

 

SELECTED SOLO SHOWS

2019 – Chamber No.12 (curator D. Demekhina, supported by MOCT contemporary art foundation), Cube contemporary art space, Moscow

         – Hold your breath (curator E. Polozhentceva):

2019 – Robert Koch Museum, Berlin

2018 – Yetsin Centre, Ekaterininburg (RU)

2018 – Medicine History Museum of the First Sechenov Moscow State Medical University with the support of IFRC, Moscow

2018 – Kyrgyz Union of Artists, MSF TB Symposium,  Bishkek

2017 – WHO headquarters, Geneva

2017 – Museum of Medicine, Snt. Petersburg

2017 – First WHO Ministerial Conference on ending TB, World Trade Centre, Moscow

2016 – Loft Project Etagi gallery, Snt. Petersburg

2016 – TB hospital, Voronezh (RU)

2016 – 7th Union Conference on Lung health, Bratislava

2016 – Omelchenko Gallery, Moscow

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022 – “Monsters under the bed” (curator P. Mogilina), Third place, Snt. Petersburg
2022 – “*** *****” (curators M. Domracheva, L. Matyunina) Tilde gallery, Amsterdam

2022 – “Un escargot sous un chiffon”(curators M. Antciperova, N. Kudryavtseva), Tonka gallery, Paris

2021 – "Human isolation experiences”, VII International Conference "ART and POWER" (curators – A. Kazakova, E. Sheveleva), House of Art Workers , Saratov (RU)

2021 – “Hidden places” (curator P. Mogilina), Bunker-703, Moscow

2020 – “Smash the narrative” NDSM Fuse gallery, Amsterdam 

2019 – “Dismorphophobia or war inside of you” (curator D. Kamyshnikova) Moscow Museum Of Modern Art

2018 – “Community of the performance” (curators: A. Demina, S. Dorogina, O. Evseeva, S. Krasnov), design-factory FLACON, Moscow

2018 – “Secret sign systems” (curator D. Kamyshnikova) Moscow Museum Of Modern Art

2018 – “5 life hacks for dummies” (curator G. Tavakalova) Moscow International 6th young biennale of young art

2014 – “Agnietefestival”, Agnietenkapel, Gouda (NL)

2014 – “Russia XII”, Central House of Artists, Moscow  

2013 – "Paintings of three: The Resistance of Searching for a Form of Art", Open Club Gallery, Moscow

2013 – "Moscow - 2013. Space for living. Space for creativity", Moscow Union of Artists

2013 – “Сreative environments”, Central House of Artists, Moscow

2012 – ROSIZO Exhibition Hall, Moscow

2010 – “Young artists of Russia”, Central House of Artists, Moscow

 

RESIDENCY

2021 – "Peredelkino" residency, group laboratory, "First line" performance, Moscow

2019 – Cube.Moscow contemporary art space, “Chamber No.12” performative installation, Moscow

 

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES PARTICIPATION

2019 – World TB day event, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin

2019 –  First global strategy development meeting of TBpeople, Istambul

2019 – Oxford Immunotec TB Summit Training, Mallorca

2018 – The Union conference on lung health, The Hague

2017 – Seminar “Global problem: MDR-TB”, Embassy of the Netherlands, Moscow.

2017 – First WHO Global Ministerial Conference on Ending TB in the Sustainable Development Era: A Multisectoral Response, Moscow

2016 – Europe Regional UNION Conference on Lung Health, Bratislava

2016 – Regional Workshop on TB Community Mobilization, Bratislava 

2016 – Cultural event hosted by Stop TB Partnership in collaboration with WIPO and Permanent Mission of India, "Hold your breath" presentation, Geneva

COLLECTIONS

Stop TB Partnership (Geneva), Bill&Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute  (Boston), FIND (Geneva), Oxford Immunotec (London), Maxart Foundation (Moscow), and in private collections.

BIO

I was born in 1989 in Moscow. I graduated from the Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after Surikov (specialization monumental painting) in 2013 and the School of Contemporary Art “Free workshops” at the Moscow Museum Of Modern Art in 2018. In September 2022 I started International Master Artist Educator at ArtEZ University of the Arts (NL). 

 

Since I survived tuberculosis in 2015 I am combining art with activism to break down society’s barriers around stigmatized people. During 7 months of isolation in a TB hospital in Moscow, I created a series of paintings, which tells the stories of people who shared my fate. The exhibition "Hold your breath" was exposed in different countries bringing awareness and fighting stigma around TB. This project was a starting point for my further development as an artist and as an activist.

Paulina Siniatkina

In 2016 I was one of the 20 representatives of EECA countries who founded TBpeople - a global network of people affected by tuberculosis. In 2017 I initiated a project “Tuberculosis and You”  - a book about TB made by and for people affected by the disease with the support of some of the world's most renowned experts. At this moment the book is available in 13 languages. In 2018 the English version of the book was officially launched at the UN General Assembly in New York, High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis.

 

Occasionally I speak at conferences and events on Tuberculosis, give lectures to medical students, visit hospitals around Russia and consult patients online, I showcase my artistic work to the global medical community, spreading awareness. I collaborate with organizations such as WHO, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Stop TB Partnership, TB Alliance, etc.

 

*** *****

In March 2022 I fled Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine. From April to September, I was volunteering at Amsterdam Central Station, where I was registering and coordinating refugees from Ukraine with the Gemeente Amsterdam and De Groene Lobby.

Currently, the main focus of my art practice is anti-war.

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