Ksenia Kopalova II

 

Troubled times, a bed busy with thoughts of covid, Portland, Beruit, Brexit. . . corruption, disease, and trauma. This was  Ksenia Kopalova's cover design for GQ in February 2018. 

Ksenia Kopalova

'Aigul the Beauty, or Aigul-Krasa, is the spirit of feminine beauty. 

Tradition says that visiting the altar of Aigul-Krasa once a week guarantees success in love affairs. Aigul-Krasa is especially popular among women living in the city outskirts, where the most flamboyant and rich altars of Aigul-Krasa are built.'

Russian illustrator Ksenia Kopalova has made a new mythology full of hero's and characters we can all recognise from modern urban living. This is a street art project where ceramic tiles have been placed strategically in the 'blind spots' of the city to mark those places usually unnoticed. Ksenia has used tiles as a domestication of the urban environment making it more homely, the tiles representing the hearth of the home.

'The Granny Cat, or Babka-Kot, is the spirit of fireside comfort. 

A widespread ritual practice consists of offering small amounts of food to the spirit by leaving treats by the house basements.' 

'Seryj is an evil spirit who wakes the people during the night by his loud roaring, grunting and the smell of his poisonous pipe tobacco. The smell is believed to be so harmful that no living creature is able to bear it for a long time. Seryj himself wears a pine tree charm that makes him immune to the fumes of his pipe.'
 

'The Bureaucratice, or Byurokratitsa, is a malevolent spirit that dwells in old office buildings and stymies the work of the place where it lurks. Once the spirit has apppeared, it is really difficult to get rid of. That is why citizens have developed rituals and traditions that help them to live symbiotically with the Byurokratitsa and her convoluted ways.'