Land of nothing

Lena Shaposhnikova's artwork draws on personal memories of her homeland, Siberia, a territory long shaped by resource extraction and exile. Following Perestroika, the political and economic reforms that marked the end of the Soviet era, many industrial sites across Siberia were left abandoned. In this work, a black rubbish bag becomes a symbol of desolation and neglect. Yet through artistic transformation, this unsettling object is reimagined, no longer discarded, but made striking, delicate, and strangely beautiful.

Lena Shaposhnikova is a visual artist originally from Russia. She studied first at the Irkutsk State Art College, then at the Faculty of Architecture of Irkutsk State Technical University, before completing her education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.

Her artistic journey moves between two worlds: the Siberian reality, marked by radical judgment, and the freer, more global Italian context. This duality is reflected in her work, often emerging through contrasts that explore the tension between good and evil. She currently lives and works in Florence.