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P.H. Hi Aleksandra! I wonder how you came to be Weld Queen? By the way, why Weld Queen exactly?
A.W. Well, you might say that this image came to me by chance. I created my first sculpture work in 2015 — waking up on one April morning, I imagined a huge meditating cat called Tikhvami and realized this was just me! I felt so much energy at that moment, so I was ready to throw myself into art. Of course, I was sure that my life wasn’t going to be the same as it used to be. I needed a kind of a stage name, so I asked a friend of mine for help. She’s a linguist. Together we could think of a couple of names but there was one that just hit me — Weld Queen, that’s how the choice was made. In fact, Weld is a noun or a short form of the adjective, for this reason many colleagues and partners tried to correct me all the time — say, you’d better call it Welding Queen. But I don’t really care as Weld Queen sounds fine.

P.H. You weren’t interested in art before 2015, were you?
A.W. Actually, I’ve loved arts and crafts since I was a child. Remember, at the age of 17 I enjoyed putting together LEGO model kits while many girls of my age were dating boys. I took up oil painting in 2007. It was more like a hobby for me, pretty naive. However, I quickly realized I was searching for more, so I asked my stepfather to teach me to work with metal (he is a big expert in this field). I started creating small sculptures — back then I had no grand ideas, but some images I wanted to bring from canvas to reality. I entered Welding Technologies at the Polytechnic College, as I was never aiming at receiving academic art education — I had to work instead. In fact, I didn’t see myself as an artist in those years, it came much later.

P.H.  Honestly, the image of Weld Queen looks bold for Russia. Do they consider you to be a feminist? What is your attitude towards feminism, by the way?
A.W. Good question! No, I’m definitely not a feminist. I don’t feel like proving something to the opposite sex. I appreciate men and don’t see them as my competitors. They are more like my companions, there is much to learn from them: e.g. assurance, determination, manhood. By the way, I coined a special term to describe my attitude towards gender issues — neofeminism. I see it the following way: Russian women have recently started to realize their rights and possibilities, so they want to break free from dependence on men. In the Western countries the evolution has already taken place — everyone is aware of the girls’ power. But what comes next? Yes, women do have a right to work, to have leisure time that they can devote to their personal interests. I would say, it’s internal struggle that comes next as women try to prove all those notions to themselves. When you finally achieve this inner freedom and have some faith in yourself, you just leave the senseless battlefield. I enjoy exploring my gender role as well as the position of women in society while making art. In the performance Nutrient Medium I am sitting inside the woman-shaped metal case and “charge” mobile phones with my breast (in fact, charges are attached to the case at breast height). That’s how I observe the woman’s position — in a game, watching from outside. It can be a good engine. I accept femininity and related with it expectations that arise from society — however, I’m outside the game. I am glad I realized it. It’s a work done for good, not in spite of something.

P.H. Apart from making sculptures, you integrate your image into performances. Imagine, it can steal viewers’ focus from the art you make to your personality…
A.W. I don’t think it’s a problem. Meanwhile my artistic activity is running smoothly: I wouldn’t prioritize either sculpture or performance. My life itself is art, everything is interlinked and goes so naturally. Whatever I do, I explore the energy flow, choosing a proper medium through which I want to show the concept. Performance pieces just enhance the perception of my works. In fact, I fully identify myself with Weld Queen, nothing else exists for me at the moment. For example, yesterday evening I was going out with my friends. Guess what I had on? No, not jeans or trainers or any casual outfit, I just couldn’t dress like that! I had my hair done, just like a royalty, so I put on the Queen’s dress and grabbed an iron fan… I felt the way real woman might feel when they wear traditional clothes — totally accepted and approved by the society. My body seems to like this appearance but anyway it’s simply a convention, the one that embodies a stereotypical vision of woman’s dress. Personally I try to live as natural as possible, doing the things I like. You can see it in my art: I enjoy being Weld Queen and living her life.

P.H. Can you think of the work that you’re really proud of and the one that didn’t meet your expectations?
A.W. The Mother sculpture exhibited in Zaryadye Park is a very important work for me. It took me almost a year to create it: from the moment the idea was born until its complete realization. People who came to lie in the arms of the Mother shared their impressions — they reached the outer space, they say! Some of them came at night to avoid crowds and spend more time interacting with the figure. Visitors who had this experience appreciate the feeling of acceptance and protection they had in Her arms. Probably I fulfilled my duty bringing the Mother to life — It made people happy for a moment. You know, everything in life is a part of the World harmony, for this reason I don’t find any of my works disappointing. Actually, visions come to me, I don’t make them out, that’s why there is no point in hesitating, I just put my ideas into practice.

What else to see: Summer of love: art, fashion, and rock and roll at the Palais Populaire; Gustave Caillebotte: Painter and Patron of Impressionism at the Alte Nationalgalerie

What else to see: Summer of love: art, fashion, and rock and roll at the Palais Populaire; Gustave Caillebotte: Painter and Patron of Impressionism at the Alte Nationalgalerie

Kristina Okan is an award nominated international visual artist, born in Russia in 1991. Lives and works in Berlin and Moscow. Kristina obtained her Master of Arts Degree from Stroganov`s Academy of Industrial and Applied Arts in Moscow. Her art links include exhibitions and awards across Europe and Asia, including the UK, Italy, Greece, Germany, China. In her ceramic works, she uses mainly porcelain clay preserving the whiteness and purity of the material focusing on the sense of texture, translucent and opaque effect of the surface, while her drawings and graphic artworks conjoin the complexity of color interaction and transparency.

KRISTINA OKAN, the artist: “The language of abstract geometric forms in visual art is expressive and thought-provoking. In my artworks I challenge the viewer to find their own meaning, wake up feelings and emotions, associations and fantasies, which are more covert, carrying some secret and mystery. I see artwork not just as an object with concept behind–at first, it is a communication of a particular object with a particular viewer. Their private dialogue.
Inspired by Renaissance traditional still lives with theirs visual relish of objects I create sensual biomorphic shapes based on repetitive and fractal modules.