The Wayland Rudd Collection, 2014
Pushkin, Winter Morning
Installation, mixed media
Edition of 5
My artistic practice confronts issue of race, identity, and class through my personal encounters growing up as a bi-racial person in the Soviet Union era. In Winter Morning, I use photography and video to recite a poem by Alexander Pushkin that I learned in the first grade in school in Moscow in 1989. Unsuccessful in my attempt, I can only remember the first verse and is agonizingly forced to start over again from the beginning. The repetition surfaces feeling of stress, frustration, and the unnerving sensation of being put on display.
BIO:
Maria Buyondo was born in Moscow, Russia and raised in Stockholm. She emigrated to the U.S. in 2001 and has lived in New York since 2004. Trained as a photographer her practice included a variety of mediums through which she thoroughly thread her conceptual inquiries. Her artistic practice resides in the interest of social injustice and personal experience. Through video and photography she confronts issues of race, identity, and class. An BFA alum of the School of Visual Arts, Buyondo has exhibited her work at such venues as Castel Gallery in New Rochelle, NY, the Bronx Museum, Pulp Legend in Brooklyn, and the School of Visual Arts East Side Gallery where she received a solo exhibition, among others. She has participated in a number of residency programs including the Bronx Museum’s AIM program in 2008, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2009, Smack Mellon from 2010-2011, Aljira Emerge Eleven and Woodstock A-I-R in 2013.
Photo: Etienne Frossard