1 minute read
Anna Sergeeva
from GIRLS 18
Sometimes we can feel far away from it, but that doesn’t mean that the desire and energy to connect isn’t there. I think what you guys were trying to put together in your show was in line with how I think of love and connection.
GM: Absolutely! One of the big reasons why I thought your project would fit in so well is because when we had initial talks about the exhibition's themes, we didn’t realize at the time [that we were influenced] by the COVID lockdowns and forced distance from people we love and care about. Touching one another was prohibited and we were scared to be around each other. There was so much distance, so how do we feel closeness within that? Receiving a letter in the mail can be very intimate, especially when you are forced to be apart. […] I also loved the interactive element of the postcards; it very much embodied relational aesthetics. (Laughs)
Advertisement
AS: When I talk about my practice, I always say that I work with language as a medium. With the postcards in particular, that element of handwriting is so special. Everyone’s handwriting is so intimate to them. You can say the same message in a text message or email, but the feeling of [a letter] is sculpturally and emotionally different when its letters formed by your hand. I love that component of it.
GM: Last year, you opened up a bookstore in Brooklyn, NY called dear friend books, which primarily stocks vintage books and art publications, sells tea and wine, and has an outdoor space for public events. Why did you decide to open a bookstore, and what do you hope to achieve with it?
AS: When the right words reach the right person at the right time, it opens a portal to the divine mind. Opening that portal allows for an inflection point in one’s spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and philosophical development. When you can do that for many people, that can spark a collective evolution of meaningful potential. The bookstore is much more about people than it is about books. For me, it’s about providing openings for beauty, inspiration, nourishment, and conversation. I see this place as a sculpture, a very communal one. Every single person that steps inside is a part of it.
GM: What are you currently working on in your own practice?
AS: A lot of my energy goes towards realizing the vision of the bookstore. I’ve been exploring the book as an object and sculptural form, how it’s being displayed on the shelves, how it’s being created, and what are ways that we can create books that are more communal instead of saying, “I’m the artist/editor and this is my vision.”