Oksana Dzhuman

Lives and works in València, Spain

Artist statement

I create images from used sticks for heated tobacco systems, using them as a modular material. I prepare them, hand-paint each one with acrylic, and assemble them on canvas. This technique grew out of my own experience with smoking. When I noticed how many sticks accumulated in just a few days, I began to see them as a material I could work with. I am interested in how our perception of a material can change: it remains the same, but once it becomes part of an image, it is perceived differently. Over time, other people joined in collecting the material, and what began as a personal story gradually became part of something shared.

Artwork