Awakening 1975

Editor: So this is Oleksandr Aksinin's "Awakening" from 1975. It’s a collage made with cyanotype and photography. The indigo hues create a really dreamlike atmosphere, and all the geometric shapes make it almost architectural. How would you interpret this work? Curator: Well, considering Aksinin’s Ukrainian background and the socio-political context of 1975, under Soviet rule, the "awakening" might represent a yearning for cultural and intellectual freedom. Cyanotype, with its association with blueprints, feels loaded here. Editor: How so? Curator: It subtly critiques the imposed structures, the plans and controls dictating everyday life. Aksinin employs it disruptively by merging it with photography, geometric abstraction and collage. This could be his silent form of rebellion against those dominant systems. What do you notice about the superimposition of images here? Editor: The superimposition of the photographic elements over a geometrically rigid background. Does this visual tension express resistance? Curator: Precisely! The work could also signify personal and cultural memory resisting erasure by the controlling powers. In Aksinin's time and place, art became a way to challenge prevailing systems, so he expressed that yearning for personal, cultural, and intellectual freedom through his unique collages. Editor: That’s incredible. I never considered the sociopolitical subtext before. Curator: And hopefully now you have a starting point from where you can start exploring the artist and that part of history to see more through that new prism. Editor: Absolutely. It really adds another layer of understanding. Thanks so much.