artists-in-residence | program | space

in residence October, 2025:

Mariya Kozhanova

^{Postcards by Mariya Kozhanova, It Is Windy in Paradise, 2025}

Kotoki Art Space presents “It Is Windy in Paradise”, a contemplative series of photographic postcards by Mariya Kozhanova, dedicated to the island of Serifos. Powerful, atmospheric, and deeply connected to the essence of the island, Kozhanova’s images invite us into a landscape shaped as much by memory as by wind and salt. Subtle, slow, and deeply attentive, these fragments trace the delicate tension between permanence and disappearance — between what is held, and what is inevitably lost. In her gaze, the island becomes more than terrain; it becomes an archive of time. The work reminds us that the land remembers, even when we do not. Kozhanova’s photographs invite us into that stillness, where the landscape itself begins to speak.

Mariya Kozhanova (b. 1986, Kaliningrad) is an artist living and working between Berlin and Athens. Her practice explores the relationship between humans and nature, often tracing the boundary where documentary meets poetry. In her recent work, she weaves together photography, sculpture, and olfactory storytelling to create immersive, sensory narratives. Kozhanova is drawn to the enduring human need to believe in something beyond the ordinary — in myth, spirit, or place — and her earlier projects explored a generation distancing itself from cultural roots while engaging with memories and legends of her hometown, which still carries dreams of Prussian times. Themes of belief and a deep connection to nature remain central throughout her work, which has been shown internationally in solo and group exhibitions and featured in catalogs, articles, interviews, and both online and print publications.