Ekaterina Panikanova
Ekaterina Panikova is a Russian artist who likes to explore the theme of childhood memories
through her artwork. “inviting us to discover ourselves by reading behind the lines of our
subconscious”. Her artwork shows drawings and paintings over the pages of many books, parts
of the picture taking up a page or both pages of a book. She arranges old books, notebooks and
prints from different time periods into an irregular grid, making an oversized canvas of
interrupted surfaces. The books are meant to resemble pieces of a puzzle similar but rely on
each another. This is meant to represent the experiences and memories that collectively piece
together a lifetime. Th majority of her childhood was dominated by the Cold War (which was
from 1947 to 1991) and nuclear bomb testing happened frequently.
Ekaterina Panikanova tries to explore the emotional trigger that can remind people of their
childhood images, traumas and experiences that they carry around with
them. She is inspired by the metaphor of an oyster: an oyster produces a
pearl when stimulated by a stress element as small as a sand grain. She
only uses black ink and with this, she tries to enter the subconscious
mind with images and symbols. Portraits of people and animals are
swapped with antlers, cakes, rocking horses. Many different objects that
mean something to people and remind them of their childhood
memories. Such as this one on the left. She creates a new world an life
through these images similar to the characters and stories we mentally create when reading a
book.
This picture shows a stereotypical family of two parents and two children which seem to be
posing for a family photo. There are some parts of the
picture mixed up, similaar to a the idea of a jigsaw puzzle
again. There are cakes replacing the parents heads and a
singluar, entirely black page replacing one of the child’s
head. There is also one anler next to the youngest childs
head. The only person with their head is the youngest
child. Around the, there are paes from textbooks and
information paragraphs. There are illustrations of the
anatomy and there are missile drawings too. I like how
this piece has a deeper meaning which everyone can
interpret in their own way. The image is based on
Ekaterina Pankova’s own family, from when she was much
younger.The piece is full of contrast and she keeps it
balanced by spreading out the darkest areaxs of the picture, this avoids the piece looking dark
and gloomy. We are fisrt drawnto the darkest area which is where her head would be. This
suggests that she struggles to understand her idenity or her inability to feel to feel that she fits
in.
Ekaterina Panikova is a Russian artist who likes to explore the theme of childhood memories
through her artwork. “inviting us to discover ourselves by reading behind the lines of our
subconscious”. Her artwork shows drawings and paintings over the pages of many books, parts
of the picture taking up a page or both pages of a book. She arranges old books, notebooks and
prints from different time periods into an irregular grid, making an oversized canvas of
interrupted surfaces. The books are meant to resemble pieces of a puzzle similar but rely on
each another. This is meant to represent the experiences and memories that collectively piece
together a lifetime. Th majority of her childhood was dominated by the Cold War (which was
from 1947 to 1991) and nuclear bomb testing happened frequently.
Ekaterina Panikanova tries to explore the emotional trigger that can remind people of their
childhood images, traumas and experiences that they carry around with
them. She is inspired by the metaphor of an oyster: an oyster produces a
pearl when stimulated by a stress element as small as a sand grain. She
only uses black ink and with this, she tries to enter the subconscious
mind with images and symbols. Portraits of people and animals are
swapped with antlers, cakes, rocking horses. Many different objects that
mean something to people and remind them of their childhood
memories. Such as this one on the left. She creates a new world an life
through these images similar to the characters and stories we mentally create when reading a
book.
This picture shows a stereotypical family of two parents and two children which seem to be
posing for a family photo. There are some parts of the
picture mixed up, similaar to a the idea of a jigsaw puzzle
again. There are cakes replacing the parents heads and a
singluar, entirely black page replacing one of the child’s
head. There is also one anler next to the youngest childs
head. The only person with their head is the youngest
child. Around the, there are paes from textbooks and
information paragraphs. There are illustrations of the
anatomy and there are missile drawings too. I like how
this piece has a deeper meaning which everyone can
interpret in their own way. The image is based on
Ekaterina Pankova’s own family, from when she was much
younger.The piece is full of contrast and she keeps it
balanced by spreading out the darkest areaxs of the picture, this avoids the piece looking dark
and gloomy. We are fisrt drawnto the darkest area which is where her head would be. This
suggests that she struggles to understand her idenity or her inability to feel to feel that she fits
in.
