Maria with Child. Shell

«Maria with Child. Shell» is a plaster sculpture fragment of the cast of Maria Kulikovska's body, which was created by hands of the artist's ex-wife – Assyrian-Swedish artist Jacqueline Shabo during their long-term art project «Body and Borders». The form was made to create a full-sized figure «Maria with Child» from ballistic soap especially for the exhibition «Heart of a Dog» at Verkligheten Gallery, Umeå, Sweden. Over time, «Maria with Child» was destroyed under the influence of the aggressive weather conditions of the local climate.

«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.