Tanika Yezhova

150 pages of recipes, 100 pages of cleaning and sewing advice, 5 pages on health and physiology, and 5 pages of self-defense diagrams – this is roughly what the “Encyclopedia for Little Princesses” looked like, a book from which girls in Russia in the late 1990s and early 2000s were expected to learn how to survive in the world. The self-defense techniques presented in that chapter could not, in any real sense, be useful in real life, as they failed to take into account the size of a young girl’s fist in relation to an adult man. Can we say this book prepared anyone for adulthood? Perhaps only in the sense that the scale of an adult human being is now incomparable to the state, wars, and the threat of the fascistization of society.

Shell, 2026. Wire, paper, plaster, wood, padding, projector.
+ Inhabitant, 2025. Video loop, 6 min. Dancer – Maya Davydova.

Scorpion, 2026. Wire, plaster, styrofoam.
+ Tactics 216, 83, 133, 35, 192. Video loop, 1 min 58 sec.

When old methods return us again and again to a position of helplessness, where should we look for strength to resist? In a moment of crisis, where can one find the strength to fight when they are not a fighter? What new pedagogical methods should we introduce in order to break out of this cycle? How can resistance be cultivated when you are unarmed? These are the questions I explore in my project 300 Self-Defense Techniques. I start with the idea that we can look at the tactics used in nature for inspiration and consider how they might be adapted for human protection. It is a metaphorical way of speaking about aggression, protection, power, and powerlessness. Become a stink bug, cover yourself in a thick layer of bark, grow sharp thorns, gather in a large flock, employ bright coloration, cherish your soft tissues. I disarm the enemy and arm the ally through absurdity and ridiculousness.

300 Self-Defense Techniques is not confined to a single medium. It brings together large-scale sculptures made of wire, plaster, and paper (Shell and Scorpion), soft sculpture in fabric and padding (Transfiguration), delicate ceramic plaques (Educational Signs), and a series of moving images, including an educational video with didactic text (Educational Video #1: Tactics 1-12) and short animations illustrating this text (such as Fig. 1). The abundance of materials reflects the project’s underlying theme: the search for new paths, a new language, and the persistent attempt, again and again, to find new techniques of resistance.

The project was presented at the Massena Exhibition Hall (Barrytown, NY, USA) in April 2026.