If and When You Find Me

Curated by Sean Beauford, Ester Petukhova’s BFA 23 solo exhibition “If and When You Find Me” took place at Here Gallery in Pittsburgh, July 7 – August 12. The exhibition attempts to organize a fractured and unreliable timeline of a “post-Soviet” nationhood. From maps and registration devices— to images clouded by the collapse of the USSR: the series of paintings search for the post-Soviet body through an asynchronous history.

With support from the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry microgrant# 2023-0238, the exhibition featured the release of a pocket-sized book. The book serves as a visual and autobiographical index, organizing a range of materials, images, and films collected over the course of the last year in relation to the works. The index also includes a selection of essays from post-Soviet Scholars and artist friends.

Alla Alignment, (2022)Acrylic on shaped panel, 25 1/2 x 25 1/2 x 1/2 in. (64.8 x 64.8 x 1.3 cm.)

Indexed Landmarks 1 & 2, (2022)Acrylic on shaped panel, 25 x 15 3/4 x 1/2 in. (63.5 x 40 x 1.3 cm.)

Burgeoning Blue Screen, (2022)Acrylic on shaped panel, 28 x 29 x 1/2 in. (71.1 x 73.7 x 1.3 cm.)

Bread with Salt in the Wound, (2023)Acrylic and glass beads on shaped panel, 26 x 20 in. (66 x 50.8 cm.)

Pizza Power Play (1998), (2023)Acrylic on shaped panel, 38 3/4 x 26 1/4 in. (98.4 x 66.7 cm.

Through the Fortochka: An Exit West, (2023)acrylic on shaped panel and acrylic on inkjet print mounted on panel, in two partswindow (open): 40 1/2 x 32 1/2 x 11 in. (102.9 x 82.5 x 27.9 cm.)landscape: 9 x 13 3/8 in. (22.9 x 34 cm.)