Katia Shneider

The theme of the project is the existential impasse that a person finds oneself in when his usual interpretations of the reality are destroyed.
What haunts a person? Why is one constantly searching and inventing a better version of oneself? And why do these carefully calibrated and seemingly well-working ways of explaining reality to oneself collapse, revealing a terrifying, unfamiliar abyss? Where is my place in this world?
In search of an answer to these questions, people created cults and religions, various movements of philosophy, psychoanalysis, fashion, masterpieces of art, literature and cinema.
The object of my research is this root of permanent itchiness and searching for oneself among countless versions. This conflict is between two extremes: safety (I will be accepted = I will survive) and freedom to be yourself (I take responsibility for accepting and realizing my true self). A person is constantly in a state of this internal conflict: a conflict between fatigue from one’s own conformity and horror of a possible meeting with the one’s real self. An existential impasse is a moment when the familiar scenery is destroyed and a meeting with the abyss of oneself is inevitable.
“I have to change myself!” - this idea encompasses all of humanity.
“I must become like this!” - a person thinks, comparing oneself with others and fantasizing about what will relieve one from endless suffering and searching.
In pursuit of becoming “the best version of oneself,” a person tries on the costumes of an exemplary family man, a successful employee, the best son, an ideal wife  throughout his life. Surrounds oneself with countless props in the form of clothes, cars, houses, jewelry, money, connections, activities.
And one fine spring morning, a person leaves the house in one of his fresh costumes, and with a cup of flat white in one hand and a phone in the other one, reaches an existential crisis.
The project is realized as a series of ceramic sculptures.​