In her work, including her graphic reportages and murals, Victoria Lomasko tells the story of post-Soviet Russia from the point of view of the voiceless and invisible. She uses the immediacy and directness of the graphic style of comic books to show and give voice to the silenced communities of presentday Russia, including teenage prostitutes, enslaved migrant workers, and LGBTQI activists. Her graphic work, collected in her publication “Other Russias”, has been published in German, French, and English, among other languages.
The new mural by Lomasko reveals two worlds: one visible and scattered, and another underwater, full of fish and transforming bodies, swimming to the surface. At first glance, this underworld seems gloomy, yet the mysteries and possibilities of such a place in which things are in constant transition soon become apparent.
Lomasko offers a new and fresh view on contemporary Russia which deconstructs the orientalist perspective of the post-Soviet Eastern world. She poetically illustrates the spectrum of societal problems and intertwines these with her own psychology. Under these waters, we are at the same time in the heart of Russia and witnesses of the artist’s inner world upon her return to her native country. By mixing graphic journalism with fantasy, Lomasko invites the viewers to enter the intimacy of these deep waters: she not only draws events but also the emotions present and felt therein.