Adopted Welsh
Jana Romanova
What does it mean to be Welsh? If you want to integrate into the Welsh community, what should you wear, and how do you need to behave to be accepted?
These are some of the questions posed by Russian artist Jana Romanova in this body of work Adopted Welsh.
Developed as part of a Ffotogallery residency in 2015 within the European Prospects international programme, Romanova crowd sourced ideas, calling out to people across Wales with the question “If I was to become Welsh, what would my future here look like?”
Travelling across Wales, she did exactly what people suggested she should do – sing in a choir, play and watch rugby, join a historical re-enactment society, become a local schoolteacher.
This first exhibition of the resulting work shows in warm, and often hilarious, terms what it means for a Russian woman to become ‘adopted Welsh’. The exhibition will be presented in a new temporary city centre venue and Ffotogallery is delighted be partnering with Cardiff Contemporary for their third citywide festival with the theme “Communication”.
David Drake, Ffotogallery’s Director, comments
“Hailing from St Petersburg, Jana Romanova is a very exciting photographic artist and we are proud to be presenting her work during Cardiff Contemporary 2016. With a highly participatory approach, alongside her photography and video work the artist uses her own body and performance, questioning her own identity and exploring the different roles photography plays within our society”.
About Artist
Jana Romanova
Jana Romanova is a documentary photographer and artist based in St Petersburg. Working with photography, performance and video installation, Romanova’s work seeks to define and question our understandings of nationality, family and relationships. Winner of several international prizes and awards, her long-term documentary projects have been selected for a number of international exhibitions and festivals such as Encontros da Imagem (Braga, Portugal), the Backlight Festival (Tampere, Finland), Encuentros Abietros Festival (Buenos Aires, Argentina) Perchance to Dream at Andrea Meislin Gallery (New York, USA), New Saint-Petersburg at Nieuw Dakota Gallery (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Me, myself and I by Anzenberger Gallery (Vienna, Austria).
Channel
