Tanika Yezhova

The installation was a part of a group show Contrapposto, Judy Pfaff’s Installation Class at UBS Exhibition Center, Red Hook, NY, USA

This installation draws on the figure of Koshchei the Deathless, a legendary antagonist in Russian and Slavic folktales, whose immortality depends on concealing his death within an elaborate chain of objects: a needle hidden inside an egg, placed inside a duck, inside a hare, inside a chest, resting atop a towering oak tree. A figure of seemingly indestructible evil, Koschei embodies the pursuit of absolute power and the paradox of invulnerability sustained by something extraordinarily fragile. Drawing on the visual language of Soviet-era posters, the installation employs a restricted palette of black, white, red, and gray to construct a theatrical, fairytale-like environment. An inflatable duck emerges from a red chest, “casting” the shadow of a hare, while suspended, flowing fabrics and a checkered floor establish a fragmented, unstable landscape. Projected onto the wall, a text unfolds like an incantation, repeating the instructions for uncovering and destroying Koschei’s hidden death. A broken egg suggests that even the seemingly impossible can be undone. The installation reimagines a familiar folkloric narrative as a reflection on the vulnerability concealed within structures of power and the possibility of overcoming what appears indestructible.