Marat Paransky

Lives and works in Farmington Hills, MI, USA

Artist statement

My project comprises objects and images that function together as an archive/museum. The starting point for this work was my vision of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and its ties to my childhood. I began with a group of sculptures made from modified household items, utilizing materials that are specific to nuclear emergencies and human health. Consciously built on second-hand memories, they were meant to explore the accident as a historical event, a cultural construct and a personal experience. A year into the project the 3/11 disasters devastated northeast Japan. I became interested in the ways that artists can meaningfully respond in this age of highly visible disasters (i.e., the Fukushima disaster), as well as the buried histories of nuclear testing and weapons. The research that I was conducting up to that point was expanded to include the links between the weapons and energy industries. The photo series Excursions began a critique and exploration of the images and videos that come out of the Zones of Exclusion. At the same time, I began to think locally. I made drawings that imagine the returning animals to hypothetical zones of exclusion in Michigan. Then there was a digital collage in which I explored the ongoing local effort to stop the construction of a nuclear power plant. The single most important development, however, was that I started a family. I took objects connected to child birth, child rearing, food and drink, and modified them with lead and...

Artwork