Children room – Valentyna Petrova, Ksenia Platanova
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April 2-4, 2023, Perechyn, Transcarpathian region, AA Spor.

The children’s room is full of light and space. The gentle pastel line of the walls and furniture is sometimes interrupted by bright spots of toys, a pile of scattered clothes, and the mischief of household pets. Here and there, with a light hint, adult concern tries to calm the chaos of children’s games and fantasies, but in vain, because it is lost in the midst of noise, laughter, sun rays that flash piercingly every time someone touches the curtains. A children’s room is a place of peace, but also of the first children’s anxieties. Night terrors, which are usually hidden like dust under closets and beds, crawl out with the onset of dusk and fill the space of sleep. Then the room ceases to be a reliable shelter – you can still try to hide in it, but already with the awareness that there is also a lot of other things hidden here. And these are the first times when the unknown and mysterious does not appear to be desirable, but rather frightening. And one day we will find out that from now on these are not night terrors, but everyday ones. That they do not depend on the time of day or the season. Which have their own evil will, which come from outside uninvited and are capable of breaking walls, bones, hopes. The children’s room hides the gloom of unfulfilled dreams, pain and suffering, and digests and transforms it into something whimsical and threatening, where, nevertheless, we can only find the last drop of pity and the last drop of love.

Photos from the opening of the exhibition

Photo credits 1-8 – Mykhailo Melnychenko; 9 – provided by Ksenia Platanova; 10 – Petro Ryaska

View to the exhibition
Photo credit Mykhailo Melnychenko, Petro Ryaska

Recording “Children’s room” – Valentina Petrova, Ksenia Platanova

The residences and the event of Valentyna Petrova and Ksenia Platanova were made possible thanks to the support of:
European Cultural Foundation
The beaux-arts Academy in Paris

Gratitude for the support of AA Spor