Carte Blanche à ......

Carte Blanche is an invitation given to the curators Azad Asifovich and Asli Samadova, who invite two young artists for their first exhibition. Here is their statement:

Imagined as an intuitive dialogue, "Body Reminiscences" is a duo show featuring the works of two France based artists - Jonathan Beralus and Yana Zhdanova. The exhibition title refers to memories and recollections of past corporal experiences or memories associated with the human body. Used here in the context of recollection of memories from artists? personal past, the title also makes a reference to the collective (public and private) memories in connection with historical events as socio-cultural phenomena. Imagined as thought-provoking and engaging, the exhibition explores the human form through a variety of mediums and perspectives, The showcased works use the body as a metaphor or symbol to convey deeper meaning which invites visitors to reminisce and reflect on their own recollection of memories and experiences related to the body.

Yana Zhdanova is an activist, artist, choreographer, feminist and sextremist, born in 1988 in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. Zhdanova holds a diploma in psychology with specialisation in gender based violences from Université Paris Cité. Since 2009 she has been an active member of the radical protest group Femen. She has participated in many high-profile actions, including topless protests against sexual exploitation and objectification of women such as: Ukraine is not a brothel (Kyiv, 2009), Stop domestic violence (Istanbul, 2012), Kill Kirill (Kyiv 2012) as well as political protests against the Russian government - Respect, KGB, UEFA (Kyiv 2012), Stop Dictator (Kyiv 2013), Putin is the killer of democracy (Brussels 2013), Yanukovych piss off! (Paris 2013), Fuck you Putin! No Mistrals for you! (Saint-Nazaire 2014), Kill Putin (Muée Grevin, Paris 2014),  Putin go home (Budapest 2015). Since 2014 Zhdanova has been a political refugee in France. The consequence of Zhdanova's assault on the Putin's wax statue at the Grevin museum in Paris gave place to «The Zhdanova jurisprudence » (number 35/26-2-2020).
Jonathan Beralus is an artist and musician, born in 1993 in Jérémie, Haiti. Since 2010 he is based in Creteil, France. In 2015 he started his ongoing collaborating with Nexo Music studio. Beralus's passion for visual arts  began in 2019 when he attended the workshop of Paris based artist Niyaz Najafov who since then has become his mentor and teacher.