Zhanna Kadyrova. “Permission for a Cocktail” from the series “Fruit.” 2019. Documentation of the work in progress
Project description
The artist created the first objects of the project simultaneously with the “Calculation” series, so they are thematically connected. Fruits cut into slices referred to the insatiable distribution of resources by those who remain in power, and also engaged in a polemic on the topic of gentrification: the illegal seizure of the city by developers who neglect the preservation of cultural heritage and historical architecture.
One of the works is an apple core that Kadyrova created during a residency in Sharhorod, where projects were simultaneously taking place on the territory of the former sugar factory from 1882. The artist recalls that in the 1990s a local entrepreneur bought this site, planning a grand transformation of the space into a hybrid cultural hub with restaurant and hotel complexes [1]. His plans were not realized, and he later moved abroad. At that time, the artist laid out an apple core from the remains of the factory’s brick walls as a symbol of waste and depleted resources that the city and its inhabitants received.
Over the following years and to this day, the artist creates sculptures of sliced or bitten fruits from various materials in many locations. At one time, she presented fruits made of ceramics, bricks, and metal, creating site-specific installations. For them, Kadyrova chose local resources that were sources of extraction or enrichment at different periods — from Soviet industrialization to capitalist hyperproduction. Later, the author implemented similar projects in other countries, including Cuba and China, reflecting through the material the local specifics of labor interaction and economic context.
The “Fruit” project, consisting of four separately lying elements, speaks about the endless redistribution of economic resources occurring in modern society. The largest fragment of the composition is half a fruit; a smaller part is a quarter of the fruit, the smallest are empty, eaten segments. Modeled after a citrus fruit, Kadyrova’s “Fruit” appears before the viewer in an unexpected black-and-white palette. According to the artist, such monochrome binarity was chosen as a symbol of businessmen’s dress code. Thus, Kadyrova specifies the conversation about economic problems, focusing on their humanitarian component. The symbolic pulp of the half is covered with mirrored tiles, in which the viewer can see their reflection, recognizing themselves as part of the exploited human resources. At the same time, the half fruit still allows seeing one’s reflection despite the fragmentation of the sculpture’s edges. In the quarter of the fruit, even less human presence is reflected, and the eaten segment does not contain a mirrored “pulp” — it is covered with matte white tiles. Chewed up in the continuous pursuit of economic growth, a person generally disappears from view, becoming only an easily accessible and easily replaceable resource [1].
- Kadyrova Z. Fruits, 2008. Zhanna Kadyrova. Berlin : Distanz, 2026, 229.
- Chervonik O., “Calculation.”, in Zhanna Kadyrova, (Kyiv : Publishing Program of the Vladimir Smirnov and Konstantin Sorokin Foundation, 2013), p. 64.
