COLLAGE #365_single_swimming

Svetlana Tikanova's next experiment lasted a whole year. 365 days, from December 11, 2023 to December 11, 2024, was her personal "collage marathon": a new work every day. If she was out of schedule, she made up for it by devoting the whole weekend to her work.

These works are a kind of diary that unites a kaleidoscope of images, emotions, creative impulses, impressions and plans. The mood of the author helps to convey the elements of collages with texture and texture, which Svetlana created herself: paper coloring, bitumen pouring, volumetric ground, prints, drawings and prints, including on photo paper. Among the sources of inspiration are locations of the Black Sea, nature and color of Primorye, sights of Khabarovsk, poems by Khabarovsk musician and poet Irina Batrachenko. 

Svetlana herself says this about the place collage has taken in her work: "Collage has become a way of communication and reflection for me. It is a process that immerses you in a special state and space. The subjects of collages are formed by themselves. Dissimilar elements, once next to each other, begin to have "dialogs". I love it when details find each other. The completion of each collage is a feeling akin to the first days of falling in love.

My great experience as a photographer helps me a lot in creating collages, but I feel that I need to refine the work with graphics and other materials. For example, foil, colored paper, calligraphy, different prints. For me collages exist only in handmade version: hands should be in glue, when the collage is glued, placed on a sheet - the sheet becomes heavier and thicker, layers of paper and glue, handwork is something special".

Svetlana Ilinichna Tikanova was born in 1966. In 1985 she graduated from SPTU-27 as an incrustation artist, in 1991 she graduated from Khabarovsk Regional School of Culture as a director of amateur theater group. Since 2005 she has been engaged in photography and photo art, as well as organizing exhibitions and art-related projects.