ARTIST STATEMENT // CV // PRESS // NATASHA OR NATALYA?

I am a Russian-American interdisciplinary artist, educator, and designer based between Phoenix, AZ and Portland, OR.

I was born in the Siberian city of Akademgorodok but grew up in the Sonoran desert, which created a life-long interest in bridging seemingly opposing cultures, histories, and perspectives. Fascinated by how meaning is generated at thresholds and intersections, I work across multiple media, focusing on visual and motion-based storytelling through costume, performance, and illustration.

I received my classical ballet training under Kee-Juan Han and went on to study and perform in circus arts, butoh, physical theater and puppetry throughout the West Coast of the United States. I have worked for and collaborated with a number of organizations over the years include Flam Chen Pyrotechnic Theater, Salzburg State Theatre, Michael Curry Design, Degenerate Art Ensemble, and many others. My work has been showcased at a variety of venues in the United States and abroad, including the Museum of American Illustration in New York, The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the Prague Quadrennial, the A. A. Bakhrushin Theatre Museum in Moscow, the Taipei National University of the Arts, and the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. I hold a BS in Psychology and a BFA in Visual Communication from the University of Arizona, as well as an MFA in Costume Design from the University of Oregon.

I am an artist-in-residence at Water the Desert and am the founder and director of Shadow Tender - a bi-coastal creative project and teaching methodology that uses wearable sculpture and technology to interrogate psychological mechanisms of demonization at the root of extremist nationalistic policy.

Parallel to creative endeavors, I have a strong background in psychology and the social sciences and work as a communications consultant for strategic branding and sustainable business growth. My commercial design work can be viewed here.

Artist Statement

As a white refugee and Russian-American woman, I occupy a space of simultaneous tension and privilege, bridging worlds that normally remain invisible to each other; navigating realities polarized by a history of antagonism and fear. Drawing on the experiences of being suspended between languages and cultures, I am fascinated by the construction of social and individual female “otherness.” Other themes central to my work include vulnerability, transgenerational trauma, and traditions of ritual and myth as psychological and somatic tools for resilience and transformation.

My process is first and foremost driven by narratives of the body – as a site of physical experience, an archive of non-verbal memory, and a socio-political object or symbol. The work I create is rooted in these narratives, which I access through devising and improvisation. What stories are contained within our bones on a cellular level? How does the weight of our ancestors define our sense of gravity? How do the tensions of our muscles expand or constrict our notions of personal/political freedom?

Working within my own physical limitations of chronic illness, I am particularly interested in approaching performance outside of the traditional visual realm in which a cerebral process superimposes choreographic sequences, choosing instead the unraveling and externalizing of an existing vocabulary of motion that is innate to each individual. Such an approach is inherently inclusive, experimental, and open-ended: it allows each body to create its own dance and ask its own questions. I am also inspired by objects that act as intermediaries between human beings to negotiate connection and meaning, such as costumes, masks, prosthetics, and wearable technology. Although these elements are frequently used as aesthetic components of a performance, I am particularly interested in their role as direct extensions/externalizations of the body’s narrative.

My current work focuses on the investigation the psychological mechanisms of dehumanization and demonization at the root of extreme nationalistic policy.