Gabrovo biennial
Wannabe Slav
Denys Shantar
Birth year1997
Ukraine
Kherson
2021
Dimensions86 x 84 cm
Information on media/techniqueappliques with found/collected fabrics
SectionSculpture
25th Gabrovo Biennial of Humor and Satire in Art
WANNABE SLAV Is part of my flag series (Flags and other short stories) and was created during my master in Costume Design at the Royal Academy Antwerp. Growing up as an Ukrainian immigrant in Switzerland, I was always proud of my Slavic background. Being frustrated with the little knowledge the Western world has about Eastern Europe, I took it upon myself to educate them. I would educate my friends, my teachers, random people I met at parties, explaining them the spirit of Eastern Europe and how I blame the West for all it’s misery. Although spending most of my time growing up in Switzerland, I’m refusing to be called Swiss. I want to be a Slav, drink vodka and talk about communism. During one of those evenings, were I explained Slavic mentality for the 100th time to my friends, I caught myself thinking, “Man, you want to be Slavic so bad, it’s almost fake.” So, I decided to mock myself and create this flag. Fun fact: The scarf (which I used for this piece) was given to me by my Russian speaking Korean friend from Uzbekistan, she got it from her grandmother, so she could go to church here in Belgium.
