Why artists need their people — and how one community can become a lifeline in dark times

Issue 36 features artist Varvara Balashova. In this interview she talks about moving into contemporary art after an academic training, the themes she explores in her work, and why sincerity and freedom of expression matter so much to her. Varvara shares what she has noticed about her own inner transformation over the course of her studies, and reflects on self-criticism, support, and how to find life-affirming force inside dark imagery.

— Please introduce yourself. What do you do?

My name is Varvara Balashova, I’m an artist working in contemporary art. For a long time my training was purely academic — I graduated from the Roerich Art College and the Repin Academy of Arts. And for almost a year now I’ve been immersing myself in contemporary art on Maria Hiltunen-Sedoshenko’s course.

— What themes do you raise in your work?

My themes can come across as bleak, even off-putting. That’s directly tied to my life circumstances and my internal conflicts. My parents’ illness and death, for instance, feed into the project I’m working on right now. My principle in contemporary art is sincerity, truthfulness and freedom of thought. The path of freedom has no limits, and walking it is fascinating.

— How has your practice changed over the past year?

— What matters most to you right now?

What matters most to me now is catching hold of the life-affirming force inside me and passing it on through art — alongside the darker images that are also part of who I am.

— What’s your strategy as an artist?

My strategy is simply to keep going: to make a lot of work and make it regularly, to grow, to live fully, to draw inspiration from life itself. That inner core of self-criticism now works for me and pushes me forward.

— What would you advise other artists?

It’s hard to give other artists advice — every path is unique, and every practice is made of its own puzzle pieces that come together day by day, year by year.