Designers’ Statement
ABOUT NIKOLAI REPIN
Nikolai Repin (1937–2009) belongs to the list of recognized local Mari poets who wrote in Russian. His poetry represents reflections on his real experiences as a soldier, as well as imagined episodes of wartime life. Nikolai Repin romanticized traumatic events through complex metaphors, which were often based on imagery of nature. National museum archives have collected about 50 of his creations: a small fraction of his life’s work. Most of the Nikolai Repin manuscripts have been tragically lost.
PRESERVATION ACROSS GENERATIONS
Daria Nikolaeva, a Boston-trained artist and designer—and Nikolai Repin’s granddaughter—has been working with the contemporary art space ‘Bashnya’ for almost two years now. One of the key objectives of this partnership has been the elevation of local indigenous people–Mari—through the lens of contemporary art and design.
Between the Lines aims to highlight indigenous culture through the prism of the poetry of Nikolai Repin, while simultaneously sharing Repin’s beautiful words with the public through a design exhibition in this contemporary art space.
INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATORS
To implement her vision, Daria joined forces with two international designers: Vaishnavi Kumar (Kuwait), and Molly Haig (USA). The three collaborators first crossed paths at Boston University in 2016. While they come from three different continents, speak three different native languages, and have unique methodologies as designers, they’re all drawn to similar ideas: language, layered meaning, and the liminal spaces between clarity and obscurity.
DESIGN AND CURATION
With the goal of re-examining Nikolai Repin’s poetry, and through this process, celebrating Mari culture, the collaborators began ideating, sketching, discussing, translating, interpreting, and visualizing. Molly and Vaishnavi became familiar with English translations of Repin’s poems. Through regular online meetings, the collaborators discussed the conceptual themes and repeating elements of Repin’s work, as well as the liminal, lost-in-translation moments that emerged as the poetry shifted between languages.
This process resulted in the curation and development of seven unique pieces. Several are interactive and aim to evoke a conversation about local identity, culture, and language. All reflect metaphors and ideas from Nikolai Repin’s poetry.
Between the Lines is not meant to be a perfect reflection of Mari culture, but rather a way of honoring it by exploring Nikolai Repin’s work, filtered across generations, continents, and varied artistic approaches. We hope these “translations” are a way for you to approach his work–to notice the connections between his words and your own experiences, to acknowledge Mari culture and the world Repin inhabited, and to read between the lines.
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Curator and Lead Designer:
Daria Nikolaeva
Participating Designers:
Molly Haig
Vaishnavi Kumar
Special Thank You:
Alexandra Belousova
Kostya Kes
Iuliia Konopleva
Press:
Russia One Channel
YO City 12 Newspaper
Mari Media
”Yoshkar-Ola Unformatted” Newspaper
MarPravda Newspaper
