#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. On the eve of the Political Repression Victims Remembrance Day, the exhibition Kersnovskaya’s Gardens opened at the Norilsk museum. It is dedicated to the life and work of Euphrosinia Kersnovskaya, a prisoner of Norillag.
Her famous 12 memoir notebooks have been published many times as books Rock Painting and How Much does a Person Cost. Norilsk residents also know Kersnovskaya from these memoirs. The new exhibition reveals an unexpected side of the artist: it presents her graphic and pictorial works, a series of postcards with flowers images, as well as personal belongings.
All this was shown to Norilsk residents by the E. A. Kersnovskaya heritage preservation foundation. It was represented at the exhibition opening by Daria Chapkovskaya, a person who spent the last years of Euphrosinia’s life with her.
“The exhibition Kersnovskaya’s Gardens tells where, why and how Euphrosinia became an artist. Her fate and, oddly enough, her creative path were connected with Norillag (Norilsk forced labor camp for political prisoners in mass political repressions’ time in Russia. – editor). The image of a flower and a garden in her works first appeared in Norilsk. It is unprecedented that here you see only the originals of the works”, said Natalya Fedyanina, the Norilsk museum director.
The garden of flowers painted by Kersnovskaya seemed to be a dream of something beautiful in terrible circumstances. And this dream became reality – Euphrosinia really did have her own garden when she left for Yessentuki. Darya Chapkovskaya continues to look after it.
The exhibition recreates a garden gazebo called Indonesia, where the artist loved to spend time. And on the armored bed there is a bear fur coat: in it, the prisoner Kersnovskaya once planned to escape from Norillag. Years later, the fur coat returned to Norilsk, a modern, well-appointed city that has not forgotten how it began.
“Until her last days, Euphrosinia kept diaries. At the same time, she had an amazing memory for faces, dates, facts”, recalled Darya Chapkovskaya, answering guests’ questions at the vernissage. “And she had a wonderful sense of humor. I think she herself will tell the best story about Kersnovskaya, as we accompanied the exhibition with quotes from her memoirs, interviews, and letters”.
The exhibition Kersnovskaya’s Gardens is open to visitors in the main building of the Norilsk museum on Leninsky, 14, every day except Monday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and on Friday from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.
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Text: Anzhelika Stepanova, Photo: Ekaterina Vyshinskaya/Norilsk museum
