Creating work during illness: whether it is an honest piece of work or a remnant - a pale shadow
Aistova, A. (2021). One thousand four hundred fifty six. [Installation].
It was really important for me to show the incredible amount of work that happens despite the fact that a person, in this case an artist, believes that nothing has been done.
This project was a reflection in the present for me, and laid the foundation for ‘Nothing: Art Creating Through Clinical Depression Stage’. When I first thought about the implementation of ‘1456’, I had no idea what it would look like in the end. All I wanted to do was print out a few photos taken during my illness and place them slightly crumpled in the rubbish, thereby inviting the viewer to look with me at what was done (as it seemed to me, accidentally) during my illness, and speculate on whether these objects are worth close attention as independent artistic statements.
Having started preparing and researching the works for the exhibition, I discovered that I would have to print not just a few works, but 1,456! This fact was a shock to me, and I decided that the work would raise the issue and focus the viewer's attention primarily on how much was done during the illness, no matter what - despite the fact that I had been practically in a dream, in delirium, with the last of my strength, in rare moments of well-being.
One thousand four hundred and fifty six is the numerical equivalent of the amount of work done during the illness. Clinical depression is a period in which a person is physically incapable of practically anything, and believes that for years they have not created or produced anything, degrading both as a person and as an artist.
The simplicity and conciseness of the medium allow the work to be perceived by the widest possible audience. A stack of papers with a certain number of sheets, nothing more.One question remains: is the creativity created during severe periods of mental breakdown more honest? Or is it significantly weaker than what an artist could otherwise produce.
