Wedding Stitch Up
Oil on canvas
2002
136x110cm
agf poem: how can i trust you. far from being. beeing as an intensely enterprise. next to kissing. and then loneliness comes. love with the most intense. desire to destroy. the world has changed. when i met u the two extremes touch. we am looking for hoping It is located in the heart "I probably deep down believe" we are talking to each other aren't we? we exist as a community. not alone !
Ulyana's narrative
The central theme in the painting is of a young woman having her wedding dress stitched up for that special day that every bride is waiting for with excitement. Her garment, however, is made of flesh rather than silk - which refers to the painful experiences of love and relationships, and expectations of them. Her pose and stare is that of a woman hardened by experience, strong and confident to the point of arrogance. The casual way that she is holding her cigarette and a slight sneer in the corner of her lips emphasises her superior look at the world.
The scene takes place on the background of much larger scale scenario of the circle of life. Here details are taken from an urban surrounding - tiled walls of council estate blocks from where the person depicted may have come from, immersed in a daily accumulation of goods, consumption of anti-depressant drugs, unnecessary information, paperwork, self-assessments, fame, money, publications - all that creates piles of rubbish that surrounds us at the highest peak of life - a setting familiar to most young, confident, disillusioned professionals.
The figure on the right - a girl coming out of darkness - refers to the old Scandinavian tradition of giving birth in a sauna (as very clean place it symbolises birth). On the left-hand side an old granny is cleaning up, getting rid of all the rubbish and preparing to leave the world.