Shattered yet together: Such is the state trauma leaves a body in. For artist Yuliya Lanina and her exhibition “Un/Broken,” currently on view until April 5 at Ivester Contemporary, the process of reassembly is fruitful soil for artistic inspiration.
A 13-year Austin resident, Lanina works in many mediums – in particular painting, animation, sculpture, and performance – in order to “stitch together the fragments of a traumatized consciousness.” That stitched-together quality speaks to the meaning behind her show’s name: “Un/Broken,” which suggests a wholeness while also acknowledging the broken nature of being under repair. “Much of my work revolves around reconstructing the self,” the artist explains, “exploring how trauma fragments identity and consciousness.”
These thematic ideas present themselves through Lanina’s pieces, including a series of individual paintings made to imply one unified body broken up by canvas edges. “Trauma often leaves deep internal wounds that disrupt the ability to articulate experience, a phenomenon recognized since Freud and Pierre Janet,” Lanina says. “In my work, this fragmentation takes shape through disassembled objects and absurd narratives, with humor serving as a bridge to make these difficult subjects more accessible.” That humor often comes through absurdity, presented in the artist’s work through distortion of common fashion model poses paired together with “masks, exaggerated features, and abstracted script,” Lanina details.
“Through these visual distortions,” she adds, “I aim to expose the tension between allure and discomfort, revealing the fractured, constructed nature of identity and experience.”
Lanina’s process with art is intuitive rather than aggressive, saying, “I often allow the work to create itself, avoiding judgment or censorship in the process.” Because she moves across different mediums in her work, “my studio practice is fluid and ever-evolving.” To do so allows her to stay engaged without growing tired of one singular style. Her fluidity in artistic practice also allows her to be in touch with her body’s memories and experiences: “When I experience a physical ailment,” Lanina explains, “I often ask what it has to tell me, and it speaks through my work.”
As for her hands-on work, “[collage] is at the core of my practice,” the artist says. “[My] paintings begin as collages, and my animations function as a kind of moving collage derived from my paintings.” One such “moving collage” example that goes a step further is Never and Both at the Same Time, a music box/animation on view at Ivester. Mirroring elements of her animation, Lanina’s created physical forms that can be moved via crank by exhibit viewers. Combined with a score from Yevgeniy Sharlat, played on a brass cylinder and steel comb teeth engineered with help from Ted Johnson, this meeting between mediums helps further Lanina’s overall themes of wholeness in separation.
Though “Un/Broken” will be on display through March and April, a special presentation on March 22 will have Lanina adding performance to the exhibition’s many mediums. The show, “My Dear Skeleton,” finds Lanina in costume as a horned monster. “She recounts a turbulent past that led her to run away,” she says of the show’s story, “weaving a fairy tale-like narrative of immigration, sexual violence, homelessness, addiction, and loss.”
Being able to show her work in all its various mediums is an advantage Lanina attributes to being a longtime member of Austin’s artistic community. Returning audiences, fellow artists, and venues like Ivester make for what Lanina calls “a welcoming and supportive art community that encourages experimentation.”
“It is a forgiving audience, open to creative risks,” she says, “which I deeply appreciate.”
Un/Broken: New Work by Yuliya Lanina
Through April 5, Ivester Contemporary
This article appears in March 7 • 2025.
