Pas de provocation /No provocation Print

Elzara Oiseau is an Ukrainian contemporary artist with Crimean Tatar origins. Because of the deportation by Stalin she did not grow up in her homeland, but in the Caucasus region of Russia. In 2000 she moved with her parents to Crimea, where she grew up, graduated school and then studied monumental art in Simferopol (2005–2011). In 2014 when Crimea was annexed by Russia she moved to Kyiv and then to Irpin. In April 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine Elzara fled alone to Zurich – with a big roll of her paintings from the studio in Kyiv. These paintings were shown in a solo exhibition at La Galerie Philosophique in Grandson, Switzerland, in August 2022. Since April 2022 Elzara lives and works in a small atelier in Zurich. Since arriving in Zurich, she has realized eleven exhibitions, including two solo exhibitions and four projects that she developed specifically for open calls and collaborations. Among them: - a 12-meter painting Fragility for loslassen – loswerden in WASCHRAUM, Werkstadt Zürich-Altstetten / SBB Werkstätte, March 2023. - a collaboration with Nathalie Diserens, Swiss visual artist based in Zurich, for the project le Racinage, shown in April 2023 in GK3. - the wall painting project Mother.Land for Oerlikon Dream House, June 2023 - the collaboration that continues to this day with Zurich based musician Nik Bärtsch . The Jazz Lines project dedicated to the music of Nik Bärtsch was shown with paintings and installations on around 300 m2 in a solo exhibition in November 2023. - project Conversation big solo installation(around 20sq meters) dedicated to the music, for collective exhibition Resonanzkörper in WASCHRAUM in historical building, the WASCHRAUM space, SBB Werkstatte, Zurich, June 2024. In her artistic practice, Elzara usually focuses on abstract calligraphy and interaction with music. The artist blends texts with images and abstract forms, following the rhythms and melodies of certain songs. Elzara’s exploration of the shapes, colors, line reflects the perception from the structure of progressive metal and jazz music. Since December 2021, her theme was inevitably changed by the threat of the Russian invasion and the presentiment that her life would be threatened. As she knew it, being under the danger of destruction, Elzara started her Anxiety series using the immense canvases with the texts, as a scream to the world.