Maya Golyshkina (RU/UK) is a London-based multimedia artist working in self-portraiture, performance, and sculpture. Guided by the idea that “the best way to get rid of pain is to laugh at it,” Golyshkina creates fantastical and dissonant self-portraits in which she embodies anthropomorphic versions of everyday objects -ranging from a tube of toothpaste to a fried egg or an ear- blurring the line between object and self. Following in the lineage of Claude Cahun, Cindy Sherman, and Gillian Wearing, she uses her body to challenge stereotypes and interrogate identity in a social media-driven, image-obsessed world. Her handcrafted, deliberately imperfect aesthetic, combined with traces of digital manipulation, rejects polish in favor of authenticity and surreal wit.
Golyshkina has collaborated with Marc Jacobs, Balenciaga, and Maison Margiela, presented solo exhibitions at Seventeen Gallery, London, and is currently in a duo show with Martin Parr at Nicola von Zenger Gallery, Zurich. A first edition of her work Sad Clown, included in Soft Anchor, is part of the Masi Lugano museum collection.