FOUND OBJECT III | ANNA JERMOLAEWA

Found Object III is a photograph taken by Anna Jermolaewa (Saint Petersburg, 1970) in 2022. In this artwork, the artist captures with a certain irony a surreal and melancholic scene in the Lithuanian countryside. At the center of the image is an improvised stand, composed of three rows of five white plastic seats each, arranged on a metal structure, positioned in the middle of a wheat field. A total out-of-context scene that transports us into the void, which lead us to confront with the absurd and with disappointed expectations.

The seats, by their intended use, belong to stadium stands, a place where one would expect to see a sporting event or a show, and here they appear out of context, in stark contrast with the surrounding rural landscape. All around, one can observe a rustic scene, with almost classical references in the golden color of the wheat that seems to stretch as far as the eye can see, under a melancholic and cloudy gray sky. The scene is deserted, with no human or animal figures, no action, an absence that amplifies the sense of solitude, entrusted to the abandonment of the empty seats.

Jermolaewa is known for her political commitment: born in Saint Petersburg, the artist spent her youth in a totalitarian and illiberal context, which led her to actively participate in the political and social movements of the city. In the 1980s and 1990s, together with her husband, she contributed for several months to the publication of the illustrated weekly Democratic Opposition, until they had to flee across the border because they were accused of anti-Soviet propaganda.

With Found Object III, Jermolaewa seems to want to ask a question: what is expected to be observed from these solitary and out-of-context stands?
The answer is left to the viewer’s imagination. The arrangement of the chairs suggests a wait, a moment of suspension, as if something were about to happen or had just happened. However, the wheat field remains still and silent…
One could almost consider this artwork as a metaphor for the human condition, often poised between expectation and reality, between the desire to participate and the awareness of being passive spectators of one’s existence.
The unoccupied, empty seats thus become an invitation to pause and consider one’s position in the world. The viewer can only imagine what might have been or what might still occur, transforming the act of observing into an introspective experience.

17/07/24

FOUND OBJECT III | ANNA JERMOLAEWA

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