decembrist wife // performance by Josef Ka // Finland March 2019
After the 1825 Decembrist Revolt in the Russian Empire 15 out of 124 Decembrists were convicted of “state crimes” by the Supreme Criminal Court and sentenced to internal exile and sent directly to isolated settlements in Siberia.
Wives of many Decembrists followed their husbands into exile. The expression ‘Decembrist wife’ became a Russian symbol of the devotion of a wife to her husband.
The story of Decembrist wives has, in a certain way become part of my own story….
Josef Ka is a Russian artist who focuses mainly on site-specific visual arts and performance art. She has a deep and continuing relationship with a wide range of dance forms and traditions – from classical ballet to butoh and flamenco – and often gets her inspiration from her own personal history and experiences, in combination with a direct engagement with the here and now of life as she lives it. Three often-recurring themes in her work are Happiness, Time and Memory. View all posts by Josef Ka
