From the past to the future - the project "Connections" by Daria Khasaia and Galina Shevchenko

The idea of the artists is to show the connection between a stable classical image in art and instant modern variability. It is she who is difficult to perceive by the viewer. She, most often, attracts with her duality, which the very union of two contemporary artists possesses.

Galina Shevchenko is an artist from Finland. For a long time, she worked in the classical style of painting. Her delicate watercolours, full of romantic mystery, promise both tranquillity and adventure: “The sun has not yet risen above the haze of clouds, and the mountains in the distance seem blurred in the predawn haze. The yachts are preparing to leave the bay for the open sea, but so far everything is motionless and breathes peace and quiet.” And now Galina herself embarked on the study of new facets of contemporary art.

Daria Khasaia lives and works in Istanbul. She chose the fragility of human emotions as the main direction of creativity: shame, anger, and pain along with unconditional love, tenderness and acceptance. She expresses her vision of the complex human nature with the help of collage, photo and video art, which can be accompanied by a live musical performance.

The creative union of such dissimilar artists was born in 2019 when they both received the Peggy prize. This union can be called a harmonious symbiosis of opposites, which breathed life into the "Connections" project. Connections between mature and young, unshakable and changeable, past and yet to come. As well as the connections between people, nations, and countries, which the girls demonstrate by personal example.

The artists presented five works in mixed media, where they combined classical and modern techniques. The message of most of the works is clear on an intuitive level. This is due to the desire of girls to make the contact of viewers with art more accessible.

The world is rushing at a crazy pace, changes sweep everything around, giving birth to new and new trends, names, and meanings ... It is impossible to remain a retrograde, nervously sitting on a stool of the past. And at the same time, it is so important to have unshakable foundations and roots that will help you not get lost in the whirlwind of a crazy future. Where is this edge? Transition? Merging two elements?

Each of the artists answers this question in her own way, but such dissimilar voices of the girls surprisingly merge into unison.

Galina brings out the haze of a blurred watercolour of hazy shades, deftly writing out the smallest details. Unites Daria's collages into a surreal world full of myths and deities, as if in an unusual dream. Unites the works of the artist’s mood, wary and curious in relation to the subtle moment of transition.

Most of the works have an unusual structure - this is an attempt to come up with the very future art that the project is looking for. Artists simply allowed themselves to be in a creative search, without depriving themselves of inner freedom. After all, the theme of the connection between the past and the future, life and death is presented to each of us in different ways.