I'm nesmeyana, an artist based in Moscow. In my work, I give form to entities invisible to the eye — presences I sense around me while struggling with my own estrangement from the world. For me, escapism is not a flight but the only path back to connection with reality. On canvas, elements from the botanical to the chemical intertwine, the living and the manufactured, reflecting my life between art and plastics production. Through illustrations and comics, I develop my own universe and cosmogony. My work is a reflection on how to find meaning and wholeness where identity comes under pressure from within and without, and existence moves again and again through crises and recurring cycles.
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My Projects
The Cockroach Effect
“The Cockroach Effect” is an artistic project about the inertia of reality and the powerlessness of intention. In contrast to the butterfly effect, where every small action changes the course of events, this project proposes the opposite idea: most gestures, decisions, and inner ruptures are absorbed by the world without a trace. Reality is impervious to intention—it does not respond, remember, or alter its trajectory. Here, the cockroach is not merely an image of survival or something aesthetically repellent, but a metaphor for what remains after catastrophe—not despite it, but because, in essence, the catastrophe has changed nothing. To live more within the space of one’s own thoughts than in what is commonly called reality is not an escape, but a strategy born of necessity. When the external world functions as a system of immense inertia, where even a step that appears life-changing leaves no trace, the inner world becomes the only place where something still happens. Visually, this idea is expressed through the layering of works and images created over different years onto photographs of places that were once significant: the erosion of meaning, the cyclical nature of return, and the recurring alter-ego figure present on every canvas. It bears witness to the way that, after every catastrophe, we inevitably find ourselves back where we began.
«God of Cockroaches», 30 × 40 cm Digital collage, 2026
«The Cockroach’s Home», 30 × 40 cm Digital collage, 2026
«Bridge of Cockroaches», 30 × 40 cm Digital collage, 2026
«Forest of Cockroaches», 30 × 40 cm Digital collage, 2026
«The Apparition of the Cockroach», 30 × 40 cm Digital collage, 2026
Exhibited at «CUBE», Moscow, 2026
THE FEAST
«The Feast» is a project born from reflections on the cyclical nature of life and the impossibility of changing its inevitable patterns. It is a materialization of my inner experience and an attempt to gain control over my own reality. I redirected the feelings that had brought me confusion and helplessness into my work, ultimately determining its outcome, form, and scale. By transforming these images, I try to find liberation within them. The works are visualized images of my thoughts and emotions from different times, places, and events. Within the project, the feast symbolizes the moment when they come together and are recognized within my inner self. A feast is a universal and unconditional act of communion, allowing disconnected entities to coexist within a single chronotope—as in the sacred Last Supper or in hostile gatherings around a table with drunken relatives. In this project, the sharp fragments of my self have gathered at one table, so that in the next cycle of my life they may either unite, forming a strange yet harmonious stained-glass composition, or continue to wound me with their sharp edges, each one struggling to find its place.
The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down
Ecclesiastes 1:5 110х70 см Canvas on stretcher, acrylic, thermoplastic, 2025
The sun always rises, yet it never changes. It draws one in and burns, promising change but never truly bringing it. Human beings, powerless before its might, continue to seek in it consolation from the inevitable cyclical nature of life.
Thermoplastic, as a material, fixes form, but under the influence of heat it loses it, symbolizing an inner vulnerability before the inevitable.
Nike
110 × 70 cm Canvas on stretcher, acrylic, thermoplastic, 2025
Nike is an attempt to comprehend and overcome a deep personal trauma that led to a loss of connection with my body. It gave rise to an urge to injure myself in an effort to recover lost sensations, yet the mind still seeks to separate itself from the body, to shield itself from pain by repressing it. Despite the despair, within this process there emerges a desire to prevail, not to allow these experiences to break me—for my own sake, and for the sake of other women going through the same path.The image of a female body without a face or limbs, recalling the statue of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, symbolizes the absence of something essential, yet despite this absence, it still carries the strength of victory.
The Baptist
95 × 200 cm Canvas on stretcher, acrylic, thermoplastic, 2025
The execution symbolizes not only death, but also a swift, violent transition, as in baptism—an act that divides life into a “before” and an “after.” Both experiences carry transformation within them and are always preceded by horror before the unknown. The first powerful experience, whether positive or negative, becomes a kind of “baptism,” and a person, like the baptizer or the executioner, always stands before the unknown, entering an endless cycle in which an inner voice whispers:
“Congratulations on your baptism.”
The Evil Eye
50 × 40 cm Canvas on stretcher, acrylic, thermoplastic, 2025
The title of the painting refers to the English expression “the evil eye,” meaning a curse cast by a glance—a phenomenon that lies beyond logic and rationality, yet nonetheless exerts a powerful influence on the way people perceive the world. The evil eye, like other supernatural phenomena—rituals, divination, omens—remains invisible, yet is capable of governing the mind, creating an illusion of control over chaos. The evil eye is a force that controls the rational through the irrational, engaging with what defies explanation, yet still profoundly shapes reality.
Hanako
12 × 15 × 20 cm Second-hand anime figurine, flowers, crushed glass, dead insects, thermoplastic, 2025
Hanako is a reflection on painful femininity, objectification, and the impossibility of proving that a woman is more than just a body. She once belonged to someone, like a symbol of fertility—a kind of totem occupying its designated place in another person’s home, as in ancient times. In my hands, she is condemned to bloom despite disgust and pain. The flowers growing from her eyes and the insects devouring her are merely parts of her existence. After all, is this not the role imposed upon women—to bloom and give endlessly, despite everything that destroys them?
Nanako
12 × 15 × 20 cm Second-hand anime figurine, antidepressants, crushed glass, dead mosquito, thermoplastic, 2025
Nanako shares the same origin and function as her sister Hanako. Here, the focus is not on the woman’s body, but on her mind, which remains beyond her control. Outwardly she is beautiful, yet inwardly she is consumed each day by pain and fear. Those from whom she longs for warmth continue to see in her only a body. The more she gives of herself, the more often she hears strange sounds and wakes from an icy cold. Tablet after tablet, she tries to become “normal” for the sake of the one who offers her at least some warmth.
But he, too, will leave her, leaving behind only one final verdict:
she is mentally ill.
HOMO LAPSUS
The Homo lapsus project is a reflection on human survival in a world overwhelmed by information, where every day we are confronted with an endless flow of data. A multitude of opinions, thoughts, and images generates an entire spectrum of emotions—from tears of joy to fear and disgust—leaving us in a constant struggle for attention and certainty. In a world where every opinion seems to matter and another person’s perspective can become more significant than one’s own, I began to notice my identity gradually falling apart. Trying to find what is “right” within the informational noise, I lose myself, becoming dependent on external approval. This transforms me not into a whole human being, but into a distorted subspecies: a person who keeps slipping away, losing connection with the self while searching for something that may never be found.
«Reactor #2», 50 × 70 cm Acrylic
«The Fall #2», 60 × 30 cm Acrylic
«Yearning #2», 25 × 30 cm Acrylic
«Metamorphosis», 25 × 30 cm Acrylic
«Homeward #2», 22 × 29.5 cm Cyanotype
«Yearning #1», 21 × 29.5 cm Cyanotype
«Reactor #1», 21 × 29.5 cm Cyanotype
«The Magi #2», 25 × 30 cm Acrylic
«The Magi #1», 25 × 30 cm Acrylic
«The Fall #1», 25 × 30 cm Acrylic
«The Womb», 25 × 30 cm Acrylic
«Reactor #0», 25 × 30 cm Acrylic
«The Pool», 21 × 29.5 cm Collage
«Reactor», 25 × 30 cm Acrylic
«Homeward #1», 21 × 30 cm Collage
The Hounds of Tindalos
A quarter of my life has passed, and I have grown from a teenager into an adult. The first funeral, the first surgery, and the first ring placed on my ring finger and taken off forever. Mistakes grow more costly. I miss the carefree days when I laughed with friends, when love brought only happiness, when I could create anything I wanted, and when there was always a home to return to and people I loved. It hurts to remember those moments because I had to lose all of it. Because of their connection to intersections in space-time, the Hounds of Tindalos can enter the material world through the angle formed by any two planes, provided it measures 90° or less. They are said to inhabit the “angles” of time, while humans and other terrestrial forms of life live, by contrast, in its “curves.” I try to run from them. That is why I plunge headlong into my memories—all of them at once—until I reach the abyss, and then emerge from it thinking of purity. Of how the darkness thickens before dawn.
Video: artist’s archive Music: Felix Bondarev, «Neither Night nor Day» Text: Frank Belknap Long, «The Hounds of Tindalos», 1929
Impostor
Objects lie on the ground. They were once made to be useful, fulfilled a purpose, and belonged to someone—but now they have been torn from their context. Creatures that have accidentally found themselves on the wrong side of belonging. In these found fragments, I recognize myself. They appear absurd, yet continue to exist as though unaware that they no longer belong to the world. Their presence is a quiet intervention, a small disruption of an order that the world does not even bother to name. To be an impostor is to exist in the wrong form, in the wrong place. To speak the wrong way. To laugh at the wrong moment. To keep trying to understand: what should I wear? What should I talk about in order to seem like “one of them”? Looking down at the ground, I search not simply for lost objects, but for traces of my own awkwardness. Attempts at mimicry. Because it always seems to me that those “proper” people are happy. These photographs are a collection of alienation. An attempt to preserve the moment when something foreign has not yet been expelled, but no longer belongs. Each “impostor” is a mirror reflecting the person who looks down, afraid to raise their eyes. Zine, 20 × 20 cm, 2025
DAEMONS In ancient Greek philosophy, there is the concept of the “daimon” (not to be confused with “demon”), known from the writings of the disciples of Socrates, Plato, and Xenophon. It is a voice that exists within each of us. At a decisive moment, it warns of danger and protects us from moral and physical harm. But today there are those who listen to their daimon less and less— information sphere inevitably shapes perception, disrupting filters and blurring the boundaries of what is acceptable. I imagined what these souls, having lost their inner voice, might look like. They do not understand at what point thinness ceases to be a physical trait and becomes a deadly cult. They do not know when one is supposed to “stop being a child” and “grow up,” or whether that is necessary at all. They do not perceive reality unless it is wrapped in beautiful packaging. They joke not for amusement, but to express suffering. They love despite the unbearable pain it brings them. Let “Daemons” become a reminder of the importance of preserving one’s essence in a world where people are increasingly losing touch with themselves.
Doll materials: papier-mâché, clothing, skeleton, found objects
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