The series Interiors is a selection of vernacular photographs found on the Internet and digitally manipulated by Maria Kapajeva. The final collages demonstrate a collision of two cultures: Russian women in their domestic interiors in the poses they borrow from Western mass media as an exemplification of female sexuality.
Being photographed in their home interiors these women share intimate moments with the viewer / a photographer for whom they pose. Their poses are easily recognisable by all of us despite coverage of the women’s nudity with the domestic patterns that Maria has borrowed from each image. The series looks at the assimilation of Western values into post-Soviet territories’ cultures and aims to question the effect on women’s roles in contemporary society as it transforms through the global processes of greater and cheaper mobility, the spread of Westernisation and easy access to information. Maria Kapajeva focuses on women’s issues in contemporary society and the cultural and social stereotypes in their representation in mass media.
Maria is a Russian artist from Estonia based in London. She got the British Council PMI2 Award twice to produce new work in India. She was commissioned by The Photographers’ Gallery for The World in London in 2012 and shortlisted for The Title Art Prize in 2013. Her work has been exhibited internationally including the recent show at Harn Art Museum (USA). Together with her practice, Maria teaches at University for the Creative Arts at Farnham and is involved in research on women in photography, which culminates in a conference at Tate Modern in 2015.
