The «Stenograffia» is an international street art festival that has been held in Yekaterinburg since 2010. More than 12 years ago, huge cans of condensed milk and Campbell soup appeared in the city, which became the starting point of the «Stenograffia».
The next step was the painting of the passage by calligrapher Pokras Lampas, after which the concept of «security art» was born. At that time the creepy passage turned into a significant place where everyone takes selfies.
Initially, the festival was conceived as an experiment and the organizers attracted mainly graffiti and street artists to participate. Now the «Stenograffia» has gone beyond the community of artists and sets itself new tasks. The organizers invite citizens to change the urban environment, try to put Yekaterinburg on the agenda of the world media and experiment a lot with the style, themes and techniques of street art. So, in Yekaterinburg, buses and trams began to be painted. Street art has become a kind of brand of Yekaterinburg. It was also called «the most tattooed city» in Russia.
In 2019, Pokras Lampas completely painted the 1st Five-Year Plan Square, which occupies 6686 square meters. The size of each letter exceeds the dimensions of the car. He sewed into his resonant «Meta-Suprematist Cross» a quote from the founder of Suprematism, Kazimir Malevich. «A hundred years ago, a black square was painted in Russia. It changed the face of world art and design. The challenge has been accepted». He transformed the important public space of the city into a focus of the avant-garde, expressing in his work the aesthetics of the artistic movements of the early 20th century. Such a light contact with the New Tretyakov Gallery in Yekaterinburg.
Over the 12 years of its existence, the «Stenograffia» festival has decorated more than 540 buildings and filled the urban environment with art objects, around which there were places for recreation, inspiration and creativity.
Last year, more than 20 artists from Russia, Argentina, Italy, Latvia, Germany and Greece created new objects on the streets of Yekaterinburg. We interviewed artists from Italy and Finland.
Anetta Lukyanova, an artist from Helsinki, is a polyglot; she speaks Finnish, English, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, and also she studied Swedish. Her father is Russian, and she, as a child, went to visit her grandmother in the Crimea every summer. In addition, she has been learning Russian since her childhood.
The artist painted a huge portrait of a girl, taking a picture of herself with the phone, on the four-story wall of an office building. This work is one of the screenshots that Anetta took while looking through stories of her friends and acquaintances. It is on the Internet that the creator of art is looking for inspiration.
Tell us about how your creative path began?
I have been drawing and painting since I was a child. I have the most supportive mother who always supported this hobby and my decisions to pursue art as my main path. Throughout the years, it was only my own doubts about myself that I had to overcome. I am grateful for that.
Do you have your own style, how did you find it?
I think that authentic style is something you cannot go and find, it finds you. Personal aesthetics is a layering of everything we comprehend throughout life and we should trust intuitions on what we want perceive and let those influences become visible in our work.
In other artists I appreciate versatility and skills in being flexible in many different visual languages. To achieve this, you cannot focus on using only one style, for example, like «the man who draws purple cats» or something like that.
I think actively improving your skills in expression and challenging yourself to create outside your comfort zone is the key to lifelong growth in your work.
Do your works reflect certain social issues or do they represent ideas from your creative universe?
I like transmitting strong themes and phenomena in my work often mixing them with imaginative elements. I like contrasting different views and ideas together to create some sort of friction or tension. Often the references and symbolism can be quite far from the real stories that I want to tell. I understand that the meanings I have laid down are not always obvious, because everyone has its own perception. Each person will have its own universal understanding of my works.
Is this your life's work, or a hobby?
I’d like to think that it is both work and culture. At least that's how I feel about it. I am serious about creating the best work that I am capable of. This is the way I think mostly when I paint. I also have a sketchbook where my creativity turns into a hobby and I don't have to be a professional. I also like playing and doing little drawing games with my friends.
In what other countries are your works presented?
If we speak about murals, the biggest part of my works is in Finland. I have also painted murals in Spain, Russia, Australia and Portugal.
Why did you decide to participate in the festival in Russia? Did you like it?
My partner Taneli Stenberg accidentally found an open competition the «Stenograffia» festival in Yekaterinburg, and we thought it would be great to draw in a neighboring country that we rarely visit. I am also half Russian, so the idea was particularly special for me to train my Russian and to meet local artists and creative people there.
Has your perception of Russia changed since participating in the festival?
The last time I was in Russia was quite a long time ago, so I didn’t really know any young people or what their values are like. It was great to see how similar our views are with guys of my age. They are interesting and intellectual and I was very happy to make friends with such great people. There is also something special in Russian art and I would like to see more of it.
Why did you choose this particular project to participate in the festival?
I wanted to make something that speaks to a wide audience, has a light, easy theme but can hold a deeper symbolism. It was actually quite hard to come up with something that fits Russian and Finnish aesthetics at the same time.
I use photos from the Internet or take screenshots of my friends' stories on Instagram. These are quickly captured moments from people's lives that they don't really think about. A person takes a selfie and instantly uploads it in a story, and when I draw it on the wall, the image will be captured for a long time, it means that the work will hang for about 5-10 years. It combines instantaneous and fluid, meaningless and significant images.
Do you want to take part in the festival again? Maybe in another city?
If I was given the opportunity, I would love to come back. The experience was amazing in every aspect. It would be very cool not only to write murals in Yekaterinburg again, but also to travel around Russia. Getting to know different places is definitely something I want to do in the future.
What do you think these festivals are for? Do such international projects strengthen relations between countries?
They definitely do! Art is a powerful thing that unites people. I find meeting creative communities easy anywhere in the world if we have a common interest in art. This common interest also stems into deep conversations and learning about other various aspects of our societies. This widens everyone’s mindsets and getting to do that is very precious.
Another participant of the «Stenograffia» is an artist from Italy, Roberto Cireddu. His first work in Russia was a mural on the wall of the dormitory of the Ural Institute of Management, a branch of the RANEPA. This work, like others from the artist's series of cold 3D murals, touches on the theme of ecology. Roberto depicted the melting of glaciers in Antarctica due to global warming.
The artist combined graphics, volume, geometry and nature. And all this in halftones of blue, which, according to the author of the mural, personifies the rapidly changing time.
What does your work represent?
My work is strongly influenced by nature and the relation between nature and unnatural. I can’t proper answer to this question because I don’t want to tell what my artworks should represent, I want people to tell me what they see.
What place does nature take in your life?
Nature is the air we breathe.
I think everyone should respect nature because it’s the most important thing. I need to get in touch with nature, I love to feel the vibes from a stone’s archaeological site and from an old tree, I need to breath the sea air. For me, nature is the first thing I need for life.
How does your origin impact your art?
I grew up in the countryside, that's why I respect nature. I'm sure my work would be totally different if this hadn't happened.
Actually I don’t consider my artwork as a street art. But recently I took part several times in street art events painting in the city center or suburbs. Initially, I painted in the countryside, most of the time in abandoned places in the wilderness. It is unlikely that someone will find my very first works.
What is the semantic idea in your works?
I’m a good observer. I began to see things in a different way when I moved from countryside to the city. The nature and urban landscape live together creating something unique and combining colors and shapes. So basically, I allow myself to draw inspiration from everything that surrounds me.
What inspired you to be creative?
Lots of things have inspired me… Long time ago, even when I was far from art, I used to work with my father as a builder and I was fascinated about the graphically pattern of the Mexican muralist. I understand that the drawing on the wall can tell a story. I studied the murals and drawings of Sol Levitt or Richard Long, or Constantino Nivola, who is closer to me because he is also from Sardinia. They painted the walls and told their stories.
So basically, I get inspired from artists that don't consider art just as a decoration, art is something greater.
Why have you chosen a wall to express your feelings?
I started doing graffiti in the mid-90s, and since then I have always admired walls as a way to convey thoughts. I especially like that a large number of people can see my works.
Is this your life's work, or a hobby?
This is my life's work, I don't consider it as a job, because for me it's much more than just earning money.
In what other countries are your works presented?
I have been taking part in cultural events mostly in Europe starting from 2013 in Poland at Katowice, in the following years I was in Spain, Croatia, Finland, Denmark, Italy, France, Belgium, Portugal, Brasil, Australia.
Why did you decide to participate in the festival in Russia? Do you like it?
I was very glad that the organizers of the festival invited me to create in Yekaterinburg. I've never been to Russia before. Of course, I liked it, it was a very positive experience for me.
Has your perception of Russia changed since participating in the festival?
Before my trip to Russia, my perception was based on the usual stereotypes. I had a feeling that I was in a place where people want to communicate and create something that can connect Yekaterinburg with the rest of the world. I met very hospitable and sociable people. I would be happy to return to Russia again.
What do you think these festivals are for? Do such international projects strengthen relations between countries?
I think that such projects help people get acquainted with another culture, allow a foreign artist to write and express freely what he wants.
What advice would you give to people who want to start making street art?
It depends on what you actually want. Of course, if you do what people want to see, you will most likely achieve fame quickly. But it may also happen that your work will not be appreciated for a long time, because you will not be yourself.
Do only what you love. Express yourself through your love. Take inspiration from your idols, they can be musicians, artists, actors, poets, writers and family…
It may happen that no one will show interest in your work, but I am sure that if you always believe in what you are doing, one day you will get a genuine work of art!
Interview by Maria Gorshkova