OLYA ZARAPINA was born in Kyiv, Ukraine and currently lives and works in Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal, Québec, Canada. She holds a Bachelors in Visual Communications Design from the University of Alberta and a Masters in Visual and Media Arts from Université du Québec à Montréal. Her site-specific installations have been carried out throughout North America and Europe. For more information email at zarapina.at.gmail.com or Instagram
ARTIST STATEMENT
My artistic approach is situated in what is best described as expanded photography and is influenced by studies of urbanism, architecture, creative geography and experimental cinema. Though this interdisciplinarity my photo-filmic installations explore the relationships between people and their living environments; the consequence of our increasingly transient lifestyles; the ramifications of rapidly accelerating socio-geographic transformations of urban centers; and what influences our concept of home, of belonging to one place over another.
One of the cornerstones of the my site-specific practice has been the use of antiquated and amateur technologies, often expanded beyond their original uses. I often rely on analogue photographic processes as means to evoke a sense of nostalgia, a reminder of the communal viewing experience often accompanied by plurality of narratives and memories.