Tatiana Grigorenko was born in the US to a family of Soviet political dissidents. History, especially the history of repression, is central to her practice. Using collage, photography, sculpture and video, Tatiana explores the role of the image in the construction of history and examines different strategies of revolt and resistance, turning the hegemonic manipulation of reality into a creative act of opposition. Currently based in Paris, France, Tatiana exhibits internationally. She was a finalist for the Prix BMW, Creative Capital and the Fulbright Foundation and has received grants from the Schaeffer Foundation and the Thomas J. Watson Foundation.
During her Back Apartment Residency in 2018, Tatiana worked on a video project entitled Small Acts of Sabotage (How I Proved I Was Not a Camel). In a series of short interviews, ordinary people recounted experiences of their resistance to the Soviet system, in the form of a humorous anecdote. Small Acts of Sabotage made use of the Russian tradition of “anecdotes” to obliquely poke fun at and reveal the absurdity of a given system’s rules and regulations.
