Tilda Publishing
THE HOME I ALWAYS CARRY WITH ME
In recent years, the artistic practice of Anastasia Saut has evolved within the
context of the emigration process—leaving her birthplace, losing the concept of
«home» as such, changing circumstances, and re-defining methods of personal
struggle. Through her artistic research, Anastasia concludes that nostalgia can
be viewed as a phenomenon in which wounds give birth to both strength and
tenderness.
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The central piece of this exhibition and the entire project dedicated to the psychological concept of the «inner child» is the ambient work The Gift to Inner Child. The image of the carpet originates from a well-known tradition preserved in the post-Soviet space—hanging carpets on walls as a sign of relative wealth amid pervasive poverty, and as a marker of belonging to a higher social class than one actually occupies. This seemingly odd element of Soviet culture has, for younger generations, become a sequence of childhood memories, part of the endless bedtime fantasies capable of discerning the figures of animals and magical creatures within the carpet’s ornamentation.
The multimedia work The Gift to Inner Child features an animation of drawings in which the artist depicts the images she used to notice in these ornaments during her childhood, alongside discarded, broken, predominantly Yugoslav-era toys found at the Belgrade flea market. Elements of memory from two different cultures are unified through the artist’s own voice, singing a lullaby, thus creating a transcultural symbol and marking a universally recognized motif.
Anastasia develops the idea of a «second childhood» in the series Second Childhood and Timeless-Timelessness. The assemblage objects include found items «framed» in pieces of old, dry wood, reminiscent of the sacred secrets of a child’s universe—carefully chosen, preserved, and later forgotten sentimental stories. Bridging the temporal gap between childhood and adulthood and ultimately uniting the «inner child» and the «inner adult» led to the creation of one of Anastasia’s latest projects, Call Your Childhood. Combining IT technology with the nearly forgotten form of an old landline telephone, Anastasia creates an interactive installation inviting the viewer to dial their home phone number or any other number they remember from childhood. Who will answer? Perhaps the best period of your life. The sound of carefree existence.
The aim of this exhibition is to create, through childhood memories presented in Anastasia’s works, a phantom space of a child’s room or a room of childhood memories—something universally familiar, yet deeply personal. A space where childhood memories do not turn into painful longing for a lost sense of permanence and security, but instead become a source of strength and confidence, found within rather than outside oneself. Since childhood is often considered a period of vulnerability and fragility, Anastasia Saut’s project offers an opportunity for longing—for past times, for lost people, for home itself—to become a supportive force, creating an alternative universe in which perhaps none of us have ever actually left that home.
Veronika Podriadova
Art historian, curator, employee of the Museum
of Contemporary Art in Belgrade
The multimedia work The Gift to Inner Child features an animation of drawings in which the artist depicts the images she used to notice in these ornaments during her childhood, alongside discarded, broken, predominantly Yugoslav-era toys found at the Belgrade flea market. Elements of memory from two different cultures are unified through the artist’s own voice, singing a lullaby, thus creating a transcultural symbol and marking a universally recognized motif.
Anastasia develops the idea of a «second childhood» in the series Second Childhood and Timeless-Timelessness. The assemblage objects include found items «framed» in pieces of old, dry wood, reminiscent of the sacred secrets of a child’s universe—carefully chosen, preserved, and later forgotten sentimental stories. Bridging the temporal gap between childhood and adulthood and ultimately uniting the «inner child» and the «inner adult» led to the creation of one of Anastasia’s latest projects, Call Your Childhood. Combining IT technology with the nearly forgotten form of an old landline telephone, Anastasia creates an interactive installation inviting the viewer to dial their home phone number or any other number they remember from childhood. Who will answer? Perhaps the best period of your life. The sound of carefree existence.
The aim of this exhibition is to create, through childhood memories presented in Anastasia’s works, a phantom space of a child’s room or a room of childhood memories—something universally familiar, yet deeply personal. A space where childhood memories do not turn into painful longing for a lost sense of permanence and security, but instead become a source of strength and confidence, found within rather than outside oneself. Since childhood is often considered a period of vulnerability and fragility, Anastasia Saut’s project offers an opportunity for longing—for past times, for lost people, for home itself—to become a supportive force, creating an alternative universe in which perhaps none of us have ever actually left that home.
Veronika Podriadova
Art historian, curator, employee of the Museum
of Contemporary Art in Belgrade
Video art "The gift to Inner Child"
As a child, before going to sleep, when the world around you begins to sink into darkness, but you don't feel sleepy at all yet, you lie in bed and your gaze wanders around the room. It's a fragile time of half-awake, half-sleep, when everything is reshaping. Shadows thicken, cracks in the ceiling become gorges and endless sandy roads. But the most interesting stories unfold on the carpet. Half-flowers-half-beasts weave in frivolous dances. The thickets part and beautiful valleys open to view, with rivers and lakes, and a castle on a hill.
For a very long time I was looking for a way to translate my childhood memories into artistic form, and one day, by some miracle, I found that very rug from my childhood. The ornaments of the rug inspired me to create a video, which became a gift for my inner child. That's when I felt that I had an artistic and psychological tool in my hands that allowed me to rediscover joy and meaning in life, to look at the world around me with curiosity and wonder.
Then it was February 2022 and I moved to Sri Lanka, immersed in anxiety and fear of the unknown. Visiting Buddhist temples and looking at the stone vaults of ancient caves, I noticed drawings so similar to the carpet designs from my childhood.
The darkness of the temple was quiet and warm, like a mother's womb. Sitting on a rock and hugging my knees, I heard a melody inside me. It was a lullaby, and I began to hum it, too.
I felt keenly that a lullaby, one of the oldest songs on Earth, is a way of supporting the inner child from our inner parent. The child only creates and rejoices when it is safe, when it is held by the hand and comforted - tomorrow will be a new day, and everything will be okay, because I am with you.
We miss that so much in adulthood.
The lullaby tune was the missing element in my work. Now the puzzle is complete, and the inner child and the inner parent finally meet.
As a child, before going to sleep, when the world around you begins to sink into darkness, but you don't feel sleepy at all yet, you lie in bed and your gaze wanders around the room. It's a fragile time of half-awake, half-sleep, when everything is reshaping. Shadows thicken, cracks in the ceiling become gorges and endless sandy roads. But the most interesting stories unfold on the carpet. Half-flowers-half-beasts weave in frivolous dances. The thickets part and beautiful valleys open to view, with rivers and lakes, and a castle on a hill.
For a very long time I was looking for a way to translate my childhood memories into artistic form, and one day, by some miracle, I found that very rug from my childhood. The ornaments of the rug inspired me to create a video, which became a gift for my inner child. That's when I felt that I had an artistic and psychological tool in my hands that allowed me to rediscover joy and meaning in life, to look at the world around me with curiosity and wonder.
Then it was February 2022 and I moved to Sri Lanka, immersed in anxiety and fear of the unknown. Visiting Buddhist temples and looking at the stone vaults of ancient caves, I noticed drawings so similar to the carpet designs from my childhood.
The darkness of the temple was quiet and warm, like a mother's womb. Sitting on a rock and hugging my knees, I heard a melody inside me. It was a lullaby, and I began to hum it, too.
I felt keenly that a lullaby, one of the oldest songs on Earth, is a way of supporting the inner child from our inner parent. The child only creates and rejoices when it is safe, when it is held by the hand and comforted - tomorrow will be a new day, and everything will be okay, because I am with you.
We miss that so much in adulthood.
The lullaby tune was the missing element in my work. Now the puzzle is complete, and the inner child and the inner parent finally meet.
"Between Dreams"
Watercolor, collage
28,5 х 30 cm. 2022
Watercolor, collage
28,5 х 30 cm. 2022
Installation lamp with childhood memories
Art object. Hourglass and part of the sculpture affected by the civil war in Sri Lanka
The umbilical cord between me big and me small
motion design, 2022
motion design, 2022
Jump inside yourself
motion design, 2022
motion design, 2022
There is a powerful resource hidden in your childhood memories.
My animated collage illustrates the layers of memory. Remembering your childhood dreams and desires and letting them come true you will connect with your “inner child”This is a part of personality thanks to which you rejoice, wonder and create.
My animated collage illustrates the layers of memory. Remembering your childhood dreams and desires and letting them come true you will connect with your “inner child”This is a part of personality thanks to which you rejoice, wonder and create.
To see childhood photo, to open long-term memory. Remember your favorite lullaby and feel yourself in the arms of a loving mother. Feel unconditional love as the most valuable in your life.