Natalya Dyu:
Goodbye, My Asian Eyes

Goodbye, my asian eyes… Video 00:05:44 min, 2009

Video footage of a cosmetic procedure I underwent to give me one European eyelid is combined with video images of an insect; this is a metaphor for the cocoon stage, a decisive moment in the transition of an insect from one state devoid of prestige to the status of a VIP. Even if the operation is a success, it still won't make me a European. The "Asiatic eyelid operation" is one of the most popular procedures in Asia in the field of plastic surgery. The project illustrates widespread Eurocentrism in post-Soviet Asia which paradoxically goes hand-in-hand with conservative values and attitudes. (Natalya Dyu)


Natalya Dyu,born 1976 in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Studied in the Buketov Karaganda State University, Department of Fine Arts and mechanical drawing. Participated in 3 international Biennale, in Moscow, Istanbul and Venice. Selected group exhibition:   2010 solo "A secondary artist's exhibition" Almaty, Kazakhstan, In the same year there were two exhibitions in Moscow: "Liberty / Freedom" in the Moscow Museum of Modern Art and "Is There Any Hope for an Optimistic Art ?"in MMOMA. 2009 «East of Nowhere: Contemporary Art from post - Soviet Central Asia» Italy. 2008 «House of tolerance» in Kazakhstan. 2007 «On Geekdom» Athens, Greece; 2007  «Peach flower, apricot flower» in Changwon, Korea. 2007 «Destination Asia: Flying over Stereotypes» in Mumbai, India. 2007  «Central Asian Project» in London, UK and in Kazakhstan. 2005  «In the Shadow of «Heroes» in Kyrgyzstan.