Maria Klaassen-Andrianova (1990) was born in the Soviet Union shortly before its collapse. Growing up among economic and ideological fluctuations, she became intrigued by themes like transience and vulnerability. She is interested in how all kinds of — visible and invisible — processes are constantly transforming and shaping our environment. Klaassen-Andrianova works in a wide variety of artistic mediums and is showing her first animation film at Prospects: Twelve hundred moons (2023). The film recounts a family legend about her grandfather’s brother. To escape from the revolution and its system of political repression, her great uncle had fled Russia around a century ago, i.e. roughly 1,200 moons. When he returned a few years later in a (failed) attempt to convince his brother to leave as well, he was arrested. “Officially he was executed in a camp, but according to the family legend he had escaped and later sent them letters from China.”
To the artist the project is not so much about separating fact from fiction, but more about how the story reverberates in the present: “I too left my home country when I moved to Europe, and today the political situation there is tense as well. And similar to my grandfather’s brother, I also tried to persuade my brother to join me here. I called him every day for a while, but he didn’t want to do that.” Klaassen-Andrianova has avoided using geographical names to emphasize the story’s universal nature: a tale that could take place in many different locations and at many different times.
Text: Milo Vermeire
Translation from Dutch to English: Marie Louise Schoondergang