The exhibition "New Venus" by Evgenia Grekina opened in the capital's "Inside the Book" space.

The project was born from reflections on women and femininity in the modern world. Stepping away from the Venus of the Paleolithic era, the artist returns to the feeling of reliefs and volumes, in an attempt to understand the modern language of the body, which stores archaic codes.

"I've been sketching for a long time. I began to notice that questions of corporality are very relevant for women of all ages and statuses. Gradually, the practice of individual sketches was born. These are sessions that I conducted with women and drew them for 2-2.5 hours. And at this moment they lived out their corporality in the presence of the artist. I studied their body through my artistic practices. It turned out that after such a session, women felt as if they had taken an internal exhalation and began to better accept their bodies. Now we are under a lot of pressure from fashion and society. We hear from everywhere what we should be. With this exhibition, I wanted to create a window for dialogue and raise an important topic so that women could think and talk about it," said Evgenia Grekina.

One sketch, the author says, takes no more than 15 minutes and requires great concentration. Women who had never previously experienced posing took part in Evgenia Grekina's project. A personal session with the artist became truly transformative for many of them. The exposition, which also features black coal stones, is reminiscent of the natural properties of the earth, to which there are no complaints or questions.

"The project is called "New Venus". And this is a reference not to Raphael's Venus, but to the Venus of the Paleolithic - archaic, ancient goddesses associated with the energy of the earth. Hence the appearance of pieces of coal at the exhibition - a hint at the archaic nature of women in general, as a generating and killing principle. At the same time, this is a reference to the material with which the artist works. The sketches contain notes of oil pastel, and sometimes Evgenia adds some strokes with charcoal," said the curator of the exhibition, Polina Zhukova.

The author conducted a multi-level study of corporality, sensuality and prohibitions. The result is a mesmerizing conversation between the model, the artist and the viewer. Visitors were able to feel the concept of the exhibition more deeply thanks to a performance that Evgenia Grekina prepared together with the violinist Madina Bekmadieva.

"Evgenia approached me with a text that she wanted to read. I sent several compositions to choose from. At the same time, she wanted to find a deeper work. Bach seemed too tragic, Massenet too romantic. And she chose a composition with notes of shamanism - "Karakemer" by Kuat Shildebayev. The theme of this exhibition, I think, is very relevant. Somewhere through pain you have to learn to accept yourself. I am impressed with the exhibition because it is bold," said Madina Bekmadieva.

As part of the exhibition in the capital's "Inside the Book" space, discussions with philosophers and psychologists will be held. Visitors can also read revelations from the project participants who have changed their attitude to their body and female nature.