Maria with Child

«Maria with Child» is a full-sized sculpture-copy of Maria Kulikovska's body, which was created in the process of removing forms from the body of the artist by her ex-wife – Assyrian-Swedish artist Jacqueline Shabo. This artwork was made during their long-term art project «Body and Borders». The sculpture was created especially for the exhibition «Heart of a Dog» at Verkligheten Gallery, Umeå, Sweden.

«Maria with Child» is an artistic form of long-time research on the theme of conflict and identification of social position and artist's state during her stay in Sweden. Maria – the emigrant from East Europe – had to work in the bar and wash dishes at night, after assisting the Swedish artist Peter Johansson. The sculpture «Maria with Child» became the attempt of Crimean artist to create the new herself: it was cracked at the seams and remembered about Kulikovska's position of emigrant, woman, artist in the new country of residence.

«Maria with Child» is a continuation of Kulikovska's work with the vanitas tradition. The fragile and instability of human nature, the transience of time and being were shown through the work with short-time materials, such as soap, which enables for the sculpture deformation during long interaction with the environment. The roughness of the sculpture, the cracks and bumps of it became the specific metaphor of the fragile position of the Crimean artist.

The sculpture was installed in the park of Verkligheten Gallery in May 2015. Under the influence of the agressive weather conditions of the local climate, «Maria with Child» was destroyed in six months.