Mother(in-law)land, After Schopenhauer, Moscow, Russia, 4.8m x 1m, 2014-24

Mother(in-law)land is a monumental anti-war scene that reimagines Moscow as a surreal battlefield of conflict, will, and wildness. In this fractured cityscape, costumed and chaotic animals gather in Red Square, taking the place of fallen ideologues and fading armies. Above them, birds and nuclear projectiles cut through an apocalyptic sky, where butterflies, missiles, and balloons share the same chaotic airspace. The towers of the Kremlin, once symbols of control, now are vulnerable and targeted, besieged by conflicting natural and philosophical forces.

Arthur Schopenhauer’s idea of the world as “will and representation” pulses beneath the surface, playing out in a tension between entropy and animal autonomy. Hope and destruction collapse into one another in this stark homage to ‘Ark’ Images of the past. Here, the absurd mimics the real: animals parody the humans whose world they now inherit. This tension between chaotic natural forces and human will echoes Schopenhauer’s assertion that “the world is my representation,” where subjective perception and the blind striving of the will shape reality (Schopenhauer, 1819/1969).

Reference:
Schopenhauer, A. (1969). The World as Will and Representation (E. F. J. Payne, Trans.). Dover Publications. (Original work published 1819)