Confession

Telegraph Gallery is not just our main exhibition hall. It is also the platform that forms the programme for several other floors throughout the building. And this time, we have decided to replace the films in the Telegraph cinema with art for a few days, with a temporary exhibition of work by artist Margarita Ivy, created during her residency at the Telegraph.
After the opening, visitors are invited to go behind the scenes in the studio as part of Open Studio.

The fascinating thing about death is its accompanying natural processes. One of the postmortem changes could be described as a disappearance - the stage when all processes of biological decomposition are complete, no organic matter remaining to decompose further. The body disappears, the story disappears. For many animals, unlike most humans, life and death are unnoticed. They are left at the mercy of nature, their story untold. Margarita Ivy, an author working with death, preserves these stories.

This little mouse, with her embroidery behind her - that's my Sofi. The mouse I was given. Someone bit off her tail when she was little. Since I moved to Prague, I've always had mice at home. Some I got, some were born, some I rescued. Then they all died. With such small animals there is no room to fight, death comes quickly and it is difficult to treat them.

Margarita Ivy, a multimedia artist of Ukrainian descent, presents her work in Confession, an exhibition that is laced with mortality. Ivy reflects on questions about life and death, and the predetermined death of every living being. She interprets borderline existential questions through romanticizing compositions of epoxy objects. Deceased animals, often found in nature and in the city, are preserved and protected from biological processes. He keeps some of them for years in containers of formaldehyde before deciding to encase them in epoxy forever. Often she attaches pieces of fabric with traditional Ukrainian embroidery, which reminds the artist of her family's tradition of using embroidery on clothing or bedding. She links the theme of mortality with the memory of place - in her thoughts she returns to her native Zaporozhye, recalling the stories of her grandmother and the history of her family. She takes up her childhood clothes and wooden toys, and in her memories she walks through the animal-unfriendly town that has affected her greatly in her work. She remembers the animals that ran in the family and about which her grandmother made up magical tales. A testament to her grandmother's stories is the artist's short film Kitty in Apricot Jam, showing an intimate confession about family and coming to terms with death in early childhood. Together with sacred animal objects, the exhibition is an invitation to a conversation about the fragility of existence and an imaginary bridge between past and present.

Curated by Erika Kovačičová

The exhibition is subject to Telegraph Pulse opening hours:

Thu: 8-22

Fri: 8-17

Sat: 9-22

Sun: 9-18

Program changes subject to change.

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