What others say about me

“The poetess of the streets of Lisbon“ – Art gallery

“We can’t reach you. Did you change your phone number?“ – Tax office

“My mom likes to do something on a mattress“ – Daughter

“Are you still coming to the meeting?“ – Colleague

“Your dog is so beautiful“ – Neighbors

“The empress of Lisbon“ – Famous German actor

“It’s good that you work so much, at least then you won’t get bored“ – Mom

“Damn delicious. I’m talking about the beer.“ – Person at the bar

Artist Statement

Dear Anushka is a German visual text-based artist with Russian Roots, living and working in Lisbon, Portugal.

Dear Anushka’s art breathes life into forgotten objects, offering a voice to their untold tales, emotions, and perspectives. Her recent work and ongoing project is tagging discarded mattresses.

She makes these mattresses her canvas and with her words, spray painted across these mattresses, she releases them from their context, that of being trash. She transforms them to a temporary form of street art. Sometimes her art lasts a few days and sometimes only a few minutes.

“Their bulky rectangular silhouettes in various states of preservation, their often unique covers with beautiful detailed patterns, as well as the places where they are abandoned never fail to amaze me. These everyday objects carry associations. Our lives have rubbed off on them. Sweat, blood, tears and other bodily fluids have become part of their fabric. A mattress is so much more than just a bed we sleep on. We make love in bed, we read in bed, eat in bed, watch TV in bed, dream in bed, talk in bed, cry, and laugh in bed. We’re conceived in bed, born in bed, die in bed. Mattresses are an own little world, our private spaces. I want to give these mattresses a voice. They have so many things to tell.”

Dear Anushka’s often humorous and provoking art invite the viewer to engage in a dialogue with the words, to question their assumptions, and to discover new perspectives. In each piece, she crafts a compelling dialogue between text and object, inviting to explore the delicate interplay between public and private and to raise awareness of the pervasive problem of waste.

Exhibitions

Apaixonarte, Lisbon, Portugal
(Group) 08/12/2023 – 13/12/2024
“Chão“ – „Home is where my mattress is“

Plato Gallery, Évora, Portugal
(Group) 8/18 – 9/9 2023
“Colónia de férias“ – „The more I cry, the more you disappear“

Rua Maria 63A, Lisbon, Portugal
(Group) 07/2023
“Synapse“ – “I am a lazy person”

The University Gallery, Newcastle, Australia
(Group) 05/2023 -07/2023
“To move through“ – “I remember the love we never had”

Little Chelsea Experience, Lisbon, Portugal
(Solo) 01/2023 -03/2023
“Chaos, stains and stupid feelings –
a mattress collection of longing for lovers & losers“

Plato Gallery, Evora, Portugal
(Group) 02/2023 -03/2023
“Emporio Armani“

Ateneu do Catorze, São Luís, Portugal
(Group) 05/2022
“I’ve had beautiful nights. They just weren’t the ones with you“

Ateneu do Catorze, São Luís, Portugal
(Group) 08/2019
Montras Festival – “Room for broken hearts“

Atelier Nike Schröder, Berlin, Germany
(Group) 08/2012 -08/2012
„Tschüssikowski“ – “Letters to my neighbors“