Can identity today be the same product of production as any other object? We often think about economic structures of producing things, but what if today the individual themselves becomes an object of external influence? In her installation, artist Alina Tacmelova shows how external phrases, expressions, and patterns of behavior, which we encounter both in early childhood and throughout our lives, affect our subconscious.
The human subconscious is represented in the artwork as a delicate, malleable bionic form pierced by needles connected by threads to typical phrases, restrictive statements that come from the outside. These phrases are written in a mechanical font reminiscent of impersonal time fixation by artist On Kawara on identical rectangles. Together, they form rows reminiscent of minimalism and indicate the manufacturing component of our identity. An abundant society creates such parasitic phrases that influence our identity, shape our preferences, desires, and dreams, or hinder their realization. How often do we listen to ourselves and not follow the behavior patterns imposed by society?
The wires connecting the artwork to the phrase and the needles piercing the subconscious are barely visible and not obvious. Nevertheless, this connection exists, and together, the thread-wires form a kind of web in which our consciousness becomes entangled.
For 11 years, Alina Tacmelova has been practicing psychotherapy, encountering people with various psychological traumas, deviations, and dependencies. During this time, she has explored how the formation of our personality depends on the influence of the surrounding reality and the attitudes that come to us from society and family. In the process of her practice, the artist has identified a series of phrases that deeply penetrate our consciousness and influence our thinking. The installation is an attempt to gather these phrases into a unified array to draw people's attention to the question of "identity production" by society through phrases and various evaluative or restrictive statements. And to remind the viewer that the choice to follow these phrases or not is their own choice, and they are free to remove this connection and liberate their true self from external influence.