Maria Kapajeva (EE/UK, b. 1976) lives and works between UK and Estonia. Highlighting peripheral histories and unspoken stories, her projects often focus on issues of gender, cultural identity and the position of women in contemporary society. Kapajeva’s work has been recognised by a number of international awards, including Wiiralt Fellowship, the Kraszna-Krausz Photo Book Award, the FOKUS Video Art Festival and Creative Europe’s A Woman’s Work Award. She is currently pursuing a practice-based PhD at The Estonian Academy of Arts.
At Foto Tallinn, Kapajeva presents Fluid Borders: two large-scale cyanotype prints on cotton. Where the blue and white piece was made collaboratively with a group of Ukrainian women in the UK – forced from their homeland after Russia’s full-scale invasion – the red piece was made with two Russian artists who fled to Estonia in the same period for their own safety. The first piece features non-indigenous plant species which were introduced to the UK, whilst the second piece features plants found in Estonia that are considered intrusive weeds.
“Working collaboratively with both groups, we explored ideas of fluid borders as spaces of freedom, imagining fabrics as river water – devoid of human restrictions. Whilst I recognise the real-world importance of borders and the protection they offer, I find it interesting to think of rivers as boundaries where borders lose their divisive power. Coming from a borderland myself – where a river forms a natural barrier between Estonia and Russia – the border shapes my identity and positionality, which I wanted to embrace with this project.”
“I’m interested in creating a space on fabric where plants and humans can coexist in any form and shape. Here, feeling free in the river means feeling free at the boundary; it’s about accepting oneself and others as they are – in a place of empathy and freedom. Working with one of the oldest photographic techniques was a means for us all to participate physically in the making process, using our bodies and plants to create a new place where everyone is welcome.”
