Bearing Nature Within
AYILGALAAKH translates from Yakut literally as "Natural" or "Bearing Nature Within." This term is used to describe a person who is capable of creating. "Ay" means to create, and "Aylga" means nature.
For several months, traveling from Moscow first to Europe and then to New York, I embroidered this piece in various hotels and Airbnbs until I found a place to stay for a year. I found solace in embroidering these vertical lines and various natural elements surrounding the person in the center. The verticality of the lines is inspired by Clyfford Still and his "lifelines," as he called them.
Dunya Zakharova is a young Russian artist who works with themes of nature and ecology, sublimating personal experiences and building her own mythology. She creates images of ephemeral beings on the border of the real and the mystical, using felt and cotton threads.
Dunya was born in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Since 2008, she has participated in exhibitions in museums and galleries in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, Toulouse, Grenoble, and San Francisco. In 2016, her first solo exhibition, "Extinct Species," was held at Osnova Gallery in Moscow.
In her work, Zakharova employs various techniques—from traditional ones, such as acrylic and oil on canvas or paper, to more unique methods, such as meticulous and detailed embroidery or the creation of objects and "soft sculptures" from different types of fabrics, felt, nylon, and synthetic padding. In her latest works, embroidery has become the dominant technique. While always present in her practice, it previously served as a continuation of her graphic compositions. Now, for Zakharova, threads have become a full-fledged substitute for paints.
All of the artist's works are carefully crafted images that resemble fantastical creatures from fairy tales or dreams, forming part of her personal worldview. By sublimating her experiences, Dunya constructs a narrative that draws on her Yakut roots, exploring themes of nature and time, mental disorders, various discrepancies, and anomalies.
Submit an application
We will inform you about the availability of the product by phone after checking