Lada Nakonechna. Merge Visible series. 2015–2017. Found footage, photographs with cut-out and drawing. Variable sizes

Work description

TThe title of this photo series references a function in graphic editors that merges all visible image layers. Lada Nakonechna leaves little visible to the viewer’s eye: she takes found photographs of towns and villages in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions—places that experienced destruction from the Russian invasion—and removes all elements showing this destruction. What remains are abstract geometric compositions that involuntarily evoke avant-garde art techniques and forms. The artist labels each photo Composition No., turning this resemblance into a conscious artistic gesture. Thus, the formal aspect is undercut by the conceptual: the white voids recall war crimes that are erased, forgotten, or deleted. What has become the backdrop for the “compositions” simultaneously signifies loss and irretrievability.