Video-portrait: Studio Roodenburch
DARIA KHOZHAI (1994)
Ukrainian interdisciplinary artist and architect currently based in Amsterdam, with a background in Art (Kyiv Academy of Visual Arts), Architecture (Politecnico di Milano) and Cognitive Science (Amsterdam Medical Centre).
For six years, I have been developing a situation-specific approach by creating large-scale, site-, time-, and context-specific art installations as part of the core team at RAAAF. At the same time, I have been conducting self-initiated research on Memory as both an individual, embodied experience and a collective, social phenomenon.
My professional and personal experience led me to fuse experimental craftsmanship, architectural research with insights from academic psychology in my own artistic practice. That I`m using to recognize and memorialize the heavy emotionally loaded spaces that suffered profound traumatic events such as displacement, absence and pain.
“Khozhai`s works are deeply personal translations of the public experience of loss and collective trauma. She uses her own sensitive reflections, memories and relationships to the past and present as a lens through which she examines the wider position and reflect on major problems at a global scale. Trying to facilitate environmental, social, and political activism through art. By materializing and exposing the collective turning points of our century.” - Nadine Snijders. “That makes Khozhai`s work both artistically, historically and educationally valuable. And help to navigate grief and mourning in a world so defined by loss.” - Laurien Saraber (AFK).
I`m using architectural (often immersive 1:1) scale models as a main artistic media, because of their strong communicative, symbolic and emotional power and an ability to not just materialize the spaces, but to reveal the deeper stories that are often hidden behind the facades. Relating us to the burden those spaces may carry.
I explore ideas of Memory, Nostalgia and Sentimentality through emotional significance of simple and familiar materials with their own stories and connections able to trigger our personal memories and activate collective ones. The process of making is usually repetitive and obsessive, and resembles rituals and traditions rooted in diverse heritages.
Ukrainian interdisciplinary artist and architect currently based in Amsterdam, with a background in Art (Kyiv Academy of Visual Arts), Architecture (Politecnico di Milano) and Cognitive Science (Amsterdam Medical Centre).
For six years, I have been developing a situation-specific approach by creating large-scale, site-, time-, and context-specific art installations as part of the core team at RAAAF. At the same time, I have been conducting self-initiated research on Memory as both an individual, embodied experience and a collective, social phenomenon.
My professional and personal experience led me to fuse experimental craftsmanship, architectural research with insights from academic psychology in my own artistic practice. That I`m using to recognize and memorialize the heavy emotionally loaded spaces that suffered profound traumatic events such as displacement, absence and pain.
“Khozhai`s works are deeply personal translations of the public experience of loss and collective trauma. She uses her own sensitive reflections, memories and relationships to the past and present as a lens through which she examines the wider position and reflect on major problems at a global scale. Trying to facilitate environmental, social, and political activism through art. By materializing and exposing the collective turning points of our century.” - Nadine Snijders. “That makes Khozhai`s work both artistically, historically and educationally valuable. And help to navigate grief and mourning in a world so defined by loss.” - Laurien Saraber (AFK).
I`m using architectural (often immersive 1:1) scale models as a main artistic media, because of their strong communicative, symbolic and emotional power and an ability to not just materialize the spaces, but to reveal the deeper stories that are often hidden behind the facades. Relating us to the burden those spaces may carry.
I explore ideas of Memory, Nostalgia and Sentimentality through emotional significance of simple and familiar materials with their own stories and connections able to trigger our personal memories and activate collective ones. The process of making is usually repetitive and obsessive, and resembles rituals and traditions rooted in diverse heritages.
Ukrainian interdisciplinary artist and architect currently based in Amsterdam, with a background in Art (Kyiv Academy of Visual Arts), Architecture (Politecnico di Milano) and Cognitive Science (Amsterdam Medical Centre).
For six years, I have been developing a situation-specific approach by creating large-scale, site-, time-, and context-specific art installations as part of the core team at RAAAF. At the same time, I have been conducting self-initiated research on Memory as both an individual, embodied experience and a collective, social phenomenon.
My professional and personal experience led me to fuse experimental craftsmanship, architectural research with insights from academic psychology in my own artistic practice. That I`m using to recognize and memorialize the heavy emotionally loaded spaces that suffered profound traumatic events such as displacement, absence and pain.
“Khozhai`s works are deeply personal translations of the public experience of loss and collective trauma. She uses her own sensitive reflections, memories and relationships to the past and present as a lens through which she examines the wider position and reflect on major problems at a global scale. Trying to facilitate environmental, social, and political activism through art. By materializing and exposing the collective turning points of our century.” - Nadine Snijders. “That makes Khozhai`s work both artistically, historically and educationally valuable. And help to navigate grief and mourning in a world so defined by loss.” - Laurien Saraber (AFK).
I`m using architectural (often immersive 1:1) scale models as a main artistic media, because of their strong communicative, symbolic and emotional power and an ability to not just materialize the spaces, but to reveal the deeper stories that are often hidden behind the facades. Relating us to the burden those spaces may carry.
I explore ideas of Memory, Nostalgia and Sentimentality through emotional significance of simple and familiar materials with their own stories and connections able to trigger our personal memories and activate collective ones. The process of making is usually repetitive and obsessive, and resembles rituals and traditions rooted in diverse heritages.