SONYA ISUPOVA (UA, 1994)
Period of residence: July 2024
At La Becque, I focused on the notion of what it means to live by the water. Through speculative fiction, I connected my stay on the shores of Lake Leman to the experience of living next to the Kakhovska Reservoir in Southern Ukraine, specifically in anticipation of its destruction.
During my residency, I developed a ritual to help me embody this idea. Every day, I wake up and gaze at the man-made sea, trying to imagine myself within it. I swim daily, eager to utilize its full potential. As I reach the middle of the sea, I envision dozens of settlements buried beneath me. I picture the water receding – not gradually, but in an instant – leaving me alone in its wake. Then, I watch as a forest begins to grow in its place.
In these tense moments of waiting for water to disappear, I printed a map using a self-made drawing machine of the flooded landscape a day after the destruction of the dam on June 7, 2023. — Sonya Isupova
A graduate of the Estonian Academy of Art and HEAD – Genève, Sonya Isupova is a Geneva-based Ukrainian visual artist and designer, laureate of the Nestlé Young Art Prize 2023 and finalist for the Red Cross Prix Art Humanité in 2023. In her work, Isupova explores themes of postcolonialism, territoriality, and the dichotomy inherent in mapmaking in an uncertain world. Blending art and design research, her recent projects take the form of collaborative machines centered on mapping processes and aim in particular to detect changes in the landscapes of her native country during wartime. Through her practice, she explores the complex relationship between humans and machines, remote sensing infrastructures and their inherent limitations.
Sonya Isupova, La Becque, photo Matthieu Croizier and Aurélien Haslebacher