Olga Schigal. Oltre le terre fredde

The exhibition features an installation in which the Russian artist reconstructs a Taiga (an ecosystem typical of Siberian regions), with a precise realist intent, through the inclusion of real birch logs up to 4 meters tall and sand dunes. In a space where reality and imagination are meant to coexist and interact, a green railroad track, a concrete balloon, and a small house come together.

What defines a man? – asks Olga Schigal – What does he belong to and what belongs to him? Why are we sometimes driven to leave in search of well-being in distant places, yet at the same time, we long to return to our roots? I wonder if childhood is not simply our home, which, as adults, becomes a memory, an image, and turns into an unreachable place. Far from my land, Siberia, I realized that memory keeps alive within me that world of unspoiled nature, which is the Taiga.

The question posed by Olga Schigal is universal and deeply human. The subject addressed, that of memory through the search for one's origins, is a foundational aspect of her artistic journey and remains suspended between different historical eras, places left behind and rediscovered.