LENA LIV
Benchè sia quieta ogni cosa (although everything remains quiet)

Lena Liv was born in St. Petersburg in 1952. She now lives and works in Marina di Pietrasanta. Lena Liv's study moves to discover the hidden places of the conscious mind and the human memory, investigating them through the search for stimulating images, which induce reflection and trigger symbolic associations which are very significant.

This is how the artist describes her project for Storie urbane (Urban stories), entitled Benchè sia quieta ogni cosa (Although everything remains quiet):

"I have visited Reggio Emilia on several occasions since we started to think about the project for the European Photography Week (EFW). I knew that the theme referred to the limit concept and I was interested in performing research on the documentation and with the materials which form part of the historical memory of this town, to see what has been salvaged over a long period of time, which has now become part of Reggio's history. I visited the archives of the former Psychiatric Hospital, some of the town's archives, such as the Photographic Archives in the Panizzi Library, analysing different photographic collections which I found very interesting. I have to say that I found a great volume of material and this does not happen very often; I was very pleased.

In my work I focussed on one of the photographs that I found in the Photographic Archives and that is part of the history of this place, of this Region; I have taken this photograph as an origin, a starting point to arrive, later, to produce my work which will be an installation that will consist in making the photograph dialogue with objects. I want to produce an a-temporal and a universal work and at the same time create with a strong link to reality, human reality, which could be anywhere and despite everything, belongs to this place.

Normally, I do not work with photographs in the traditional sense, but I use this media for more complex work, as in the case of installations and sculptures. The work that I will develop for the European Photography Week will not consist only of photographs but will be an installation that will also include other features, produced using a variety of different material, three-dimensional objects which will inter-act with environment, which may be a church or the beautiful naturalist collection by Lazzaro Spallanzani in the old Civic Museum in Reggio Emilia, the lay temple of natural science.

The installation should harmonise with the space, the environment will not become an opportunity to present an exhibition, but becomes a load-bearing feature, essential to produce the work.

In my work it is always important to start from a photograph, from an icon, something that refers to and is part of life, of reality, something that has not been built, has not been manipulated.

Later on, from this photograph, I try to capture something, an essence, perhaps a soul, and I try to concentrate only on this aspect, forgetting the rest, in some way sending it into oblivion. This is why it is very important to start the creative process and to work with the archive materials or historical material. Sometimes it can be material also found in other contexts. However, it refers to material that was part of a vital moment, that was part of a piece of history. Using this process I look for dialogue features between the object/photograph and the history, trying to hide the personal and individual history such as, for example, who took the photograph, or the history of the place or of that particular moment. In essence, I look for the relevant relationship between the photograph and a human being in an entirely a-temporal way. I selected the photograph that follows the killing of the pig, already in a phase after the processing, where the dead pig's body appears to be suspended in obscurity.

The relationship with the themes of the EPW, the limit and the boundary, for me is represented by other questions regarding life and death, about sacrifice, represented here by the dead animal, but which refers to a broader concept.

This photograph, by entering into a sanctity, religious or museum context will take on a different importance compared with the documentary context, generating a countermelody among humanity, limit, victim and executioner, life and death, cruelty and poetry".

A number of solo exhibitions

• 2006 - Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, Usa
• 2005 - Andrea Meislin Gallery, New York, Usa
• 2005 - Anawim, San Fedele Arte, Milano, Italia
• 2001-02 - Collaborative Concepts, Beacon, New York
• 2001 - Robert Miller Gallery, New York
• 2000 - Nassauischer Kunstverein E.V., Wiesbaden
• 1999 - Galleria Milano, Milano

A number of collective exhibitions

• 2006 - Sentire con occhi, San Fedele Arte, Milano, Italia
• 2005 - Corsi e ricorsi della storia, curato da Tiziana Conti, Pinerolo (To), Italia
• 2005 - Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, Usa
• 2004 - Cantieri dell'Arte, curato da Angela Madesani, Milano, Italia
• 2004 - Targetti Art Collectionat Mak Wien, Vienna, Austria
• 2002 - Wishing, Silvy Bassanese Arte Contemporanea, Biella
• 2002 - Tempo della Profezia, Casale Monferrato, a cura di Tiziana Conti
• 2002 - Metamorfosi della Realtà, Palazzo Mediceo, Serravalle
• 2001 - Il Respiro Nascosto delle Cose, Studio la Città, Verona (con catalogo)
• 2000 - Carte blanche à Hélène de Franchis, Galerie Lucien Durand Le Gaillard, Paris
• 2000 - Jackson Fine Art Gallery, Atlanta
• 2000 - Chorus of Light: Photographs from the Sir Elton John collection, High Museum of Art, Atlanta photogallery Liv