Hello,
My name is Varvara Kurakina, and I work under the name Depiano. I am a multimedia artist, born in Russia and based in Poznań, Poland.I work across textile and fibre sculpture, painting and mixed media. My background in illustration and pattern design continues to shape my attention to detail, ornament, colour and narrative.
My practice grows from personal mythology, folklore, memory and symbolic forms. I create figurative works with quiet guardians, bird-like figures, animals, spirits and hybrid beings, existing somewhere between body, dream, ritual and everyday life.
Soft and tactile materials are central to my work. Using wool, fabric, thread, paper, papier-mâché and paint, I explore protection, vulnerability, belonging, ageing, the body and emotional memory.
For me, softness is not only fragility, but also a form of strength: something that can hold, protect, remember and survive.