Vanane Borian

Lives and works in Armenia

Artist statement

As an intersectional artist, I focus on the different types of discrimination, such as xenophobia, misogyny, or ageism, which can converge and impact individuals and groups. My subjects are diverse, but all of them focus on social critics. The human centristic perception brought me to research the impact of social-cultural and political aspects on an individual and a group. Being an immigrant woman, I deal with the problem of the lack of identity. That point contributed to using my background and global research practices to develop an artistic language, which includes a range of creative media and tools that help me to structurize the messages and identify myself. I work with irony and post-irony ideas and use them as a criticizing tool. Often I use visual advertising language that is accessible and symbolistic; it includes satire and a very straight message. That makes the irony stronger. I'm dealing with commodity fetishism and sexualization, body issues, the hypocrisy of equality, the patriarchal gaze, and hierarchal structures. Based on my experience living in two different religious societies, I realized the power of religion, even if that is not obvious and has not had a straight impact. That aspect has influenced my visual language, too, so I use recognizable theological symbolism. The representation of a woman's entity and the oppression of small groups in modern society have changed but still have problematic constituents. That fact is the reason for the ongoing...

Artwork