Find Freedom From What Does Not Serve You AT FORTY FIVE Magazine Issue 2101 06

AT FORTY FIVE MAGAZINE /17
As performance art goes, the project has its own
rhythm, and it has grown. It is interesting
because, at times, it did not go smoothly. At first,
some days I wouldn't get pieces and I would
think maybe the project is not what I should be
doing, or it doesn't want to be born. Whenever I
was close to giving it up, I got another piece. So,
it was like dangling a carrot in front of me.
Another example was when I was running out of
fabric. Then my husband saw huge trash bags
filled with fabric samples on the street in the
garment district. The solution found me and
added a tactile experience for women. Women
could make more personal choices from a range
of fabrics and colors.
What Is Next?
Originally, I wanted to create the skirt and then
finish the project. The response was so powerful,
so touching, and empowering that I felt it
needed to be seen by as many as possible and
many women should have the opportunity to
participate. Pieces continue to come in and I
am busy adding them to the skirt. There are
multiple showings in the US and then it moves
on to Germany.
In the spring, I'm going to do a closing
performance art show wearing the final skirt. By
that time will be huge. As each piece is
connected, the skirt figuratively collects
women’s voices together so I am gathering
those voices around me, and finally publicly
destroying the skirt as a symbol of letting go.
Can We Participate In This Performance
Art?
Yes, I am still accepting pieces. You can find the
details here.
Simply you take a piece of fabric you have. It
could be meaningful like your favorite blouse or
just an odd piece. Write what you want to let go
of in whatever way you want; markers, pens,
paint, even embroider or hand stitch. Then you
mail it to me or scan and email it to me and I will
print it on fabric.
It can be a unique way of setting that intention
for yourself. I encourage you to be creative.
Get To Know Yana
How did you get started in performance art?
Growing up in communist East Germany, there
wasn’t much room for individuality: You go to
school, get a job, get married, have a family, and
work your job until retirement. No room left or
right. So, even though as a child I was always
drawing and crafting, moving, and dancing, I
never considered myself an artist. I was a people
pleaser and thought I had to follow that ‘regular
path’. However, in trying so I got into real trouble
- with myself. Depression and overall
unhappiness eventually led me to quit my job in
the film business, which was a starting point of
my journey.
My journey is one of a “split personality” so to
speak. I’ve always had two contradictory sides in
me: a people pleaser on one side to fill that inner
void and a quiet rebel against everything
mainstream on the other. However, the more I
am becoming who I am, the more I learn to be
myself and do the things that I feel I’m here for
the more these two sides are fading away.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of
your journey?
The most rewarding aspect of my journey is that
I feel like I keep growing, as an artist and as a
person. I’m learning more about myself, who I
am, and what I “really” care about. And in this
process, I feel I’m becoming more whole.
What has been an unexpected barrier and
how did you overcome it?
When you move to another country, as I did
twenty years ago, you find all this new freedom.
That’s what you left your home country for.
You’re able to re-invent yourself, and you go for it.
Only to realize at some point, that you carry that
same cultural conditioning that you had left in
the first place within yourself and that this is
what holds