Natalia Mali
London, UK
About the Artist
I was born and lived in Dagestan, North Caucasus in the former USSR until the age of 13. I have been practicing as an artist-photographer, performance artist since completing my training at the Yale School of Art and Architecture, with a BA in Photography/Film Studies, studying under the supervision of Gregory Crewdson. Soon after my graduation in 1999, I shot and distributed mainly portraits in colour from numerous large scale photographic projects, exhibiting my work internationally. Throughout my practice, I have been taking people’s portraits and self portraits to tell a story, the story of the diversity of humankind and yet in many ways its uniqueness. My work explores memory, autofiction, the notion of postcolonial identity, sexuality, embodiment, and more broadly fundamental concerns about human nature.
After moving to London in 2001 and becoming a mother I went on to continue my studies at Goldsmiths College, at the University of London, writing a thesis on Performance and Culture which gave me an extended knowledge of performance art; an interdisciplinary field that studies performance and uses performance as a lens to study the world.
My settling down in London wasn’t so much a relocation as a dislocation. It actually triggered an ongoing process of personal exploration that underpins my work. The advantage of it persuaded me to further study, develop and exploit different methods related to contemporary photography/videography as a media. Using various topics I have been widening my artistic interests in practicing sustainability and furthermore it hassled to my creating a body of works that construct and deconstructs the notions of widely discussed concepts employed by popular discourses: global/local, multiculturalism, postmodern reflection, theories of consciousness and self-consciousness, cross-gender and transgender.
About “The Energy of Survival. A Return.”
Investigating the subject of cultural memories and its importance, I employ all sorts of ethnographic knowledge as well as the use of archival, found material, vintage photographs, and found location all of which reflect human memories. In producing my work I combine these things with self-tailored props and costumes, archival references, and attributes of long gone cultures.
For the last few years, I have been captivated by various dance movements, especially ritualistic dance practices which have come to incorporate elements from many styles of dance and cultures. In early February 2020, I got lucky to be invited by the Makhachkala Museum to create my newest versatile project, The Energy of Survival. A Return in which I could communicate with the urban landscape, reproducing my personal story in the form of dance movements to create a narrative. This very project has marked my entire artistic career and I am proud to reach the point when my voice as a practicing female artist, performer can be heard and recognized.
