“I began creating the Soviet Childhood project during the long months of pregnancy with my first daughter. The anticipation of my first child brought me back to the past, flooding me with many childhood memories and situations from everyday life in the Soviet Union of my childhood. I tried to choose the most characteristic moments of this strange period, when Soviet aesthetics still dominated the public sphere, but influences from the West had already begun to penetrate the Iron Curtain. As a child, I was fascinated by the rock and punk culture, to which I was exposed at that time, and which gained legitimacy due to the relative freedom of expression allowed by the perestroika policy. My paintings contain this mixture of the new and the Western, and the good old Soviet. In the process of working, I attached great importance to details and authenticity in the representation of the period. Therefore, I was happy to discover that my generation, the “last pioneers”, recognized themselves, their families, and the environment in which they grew up in my paintings. The Soviet Childhood series reflects The Soviet Union as I remember it, and is a testament to a time that has passed and is no more.” (Zoya Cherkassky, 2018).
Gottesman Publication
