alisa alferova :: multidisciplinary designer and artist

At the beginning of 2018, I had an idea to create works showing my version of reality. Ones are full of all the metaphors and illusions that make up my perception. I was expecting to create a fun, colorful series, but this didn’t go exactly as planned.

Since I’ve always been an optimistic person, I was surprised that not everything I was creating looked happy. It got me thinking about the fact that I actually feel pretty stressed, and so I continued working on my art inspired by my true inner emotions.

I’m very emotionally tuned into the news happening around me. I think that as a millennial and part of this self-aware generation, I’m trying to understand and conceptualize it all, as well as do all my best to give feedback and improve the situation.

I never used to be overwhelmingly anxious in my everyday life, but easy access to and the overabundance of news changed this. Now I’m constantly reading the news, reacting to the articles, discussing with my friends, and seeing reactions on social media. This created a vortex of anxiety that has completely consumed me. When I started to realize all of it was finding its way in my internal world and in my works, it got me thinking that I need to change something. I cut back on social media and the amount of news I read every day. When I saw that it is making my life better,

I completely stopped using Facebook and Twitter, which is where I was following a lot of news. It was hard at the beginning since everything tries to drag you back into the social media realm, but after each month, it was easier and easier. Now it’s been more than six months since I made those changes and I couldn’t feel better. I definitely have less stress and I am more in harmony with myself.

I decided to show the works I created during this journey as they follow the pattern of my thoughts and emotional response. I had to change the consumption of negativity in my everyday life. It’s been an absolutely healing experience that helped me understand how important choosing what you let into yourself is. It’s showed me how important it is to step back and see where that has a lead who you are.

Visit "Unfollow" Exhibit page on One Art Space Gallery website.

Publications

Bushwick Daily: Bushwick Artist Deletes All of Her Social Media for New Art Show in Tribeca

Live In Style: Opening Reception of Alisa Alferova, Solo Exhibition:”UNFOLLOW”