get to know sonya

hi, i'm sonya

a 25 year old living in london, where i've been mostly based since the age of 7

before that, i lived in boston (usa)

and before that in st petersburg (russia).

now as an adult i make art, organise exhibitions, and facilitate other sorts of cultural events through co-running a multipurpose art space in deptford (matchstickpiehouse.com)

i find a lot of solace in art-making as a way to push meaning onto the often dull reality of day to day life. my work is about forcing intimacy between me and the viewer, through demanding their focus and emotional presence. i often describe it as trying to create a shortcut to emotional connection. this is important to me because i think humans tend to communicate dishonestly and don't allow themselves to be vulnerable, to share the truth of their being. this can happen a lot internally with our relationship to ourselves too. i'm constantly using myself and my experience as a tool to explain the world around me. i want to understand the base realities of my existence, like on a basic level how it feels to be alive.

my curating is really about putting art in a loving and thoughtful context, so that it can be encountered in the fullness of its meaning. i'm interested in exploring the assumptions we make about different forms of art (especially video and performance) and how exhibitions can make these expectations clear by subverting them.
i also love introducing people and facilitating connection between them.

i spend a lot of time thinking about politics. art is and should be political, it's our responsibility as humans to engage with the painful realities of the world around us. please, if you have capacity, take time to think about how to implement some form of political consciousness in your life: charity can be a good place to start. organisation is important because the many outnumber the few.

Free Palestine. Слава Україні.