Types du Caucase – antique postcard collection/ 2013 to the present time.
Coming from the personal archive of the artist, these postcards date back to the 19th century and can be considered representative for the “popularized ethnography” of the Russian Empire. Their primitive typology follows the classical rules of exotization: they depict “pittoresque” groups from various tribes, families or nationalities, or representatives of diverse professions. Tellingly, the legends on the postcards are in Russian and French, which designates them as being for the members of the elites of that time. This collection creates it’s own “travelling exhibition space”, reflecting on the Caucasus as an eternal “travel-destination” and a space of conquest-reconquest and ongoing conflict. For the artist, archives emerge from a desire to understand, share, discuss and represent a space of resistance against natural or state-organized amnesia.
Makhacheva’s collection becomes a space of reflection on colonial pictoralism, the construction of “The Other”, and functions as her own space of display and analysis.
Elena Sorokina
About the Author
Taus Makhacheva (b.1983, Moscow) creates works that explore the restless connections between historical narratives and fictions of cultural authenticity. Often humourous, her art considers the resilience of images, objects and bodies emerging out of stories and personal experiences. Her methodology involves the reworking of materials, landscapes and monuments, pushing against walls, opening up ceilings and proliferating institutional spaces with a cacophony of voices.
About the Publisher
Onestar press is dedicated to the production of books and multiple by artists.
The vision of onestar press, concerning contemporary creation, remains non-didactic and diversified. These beliefs translate through the publication of artists from different generations, countries and attitudes. This action serves as a means to constitute a subjective “encyclopedia”, as a reflection of our civilization.
