Katya is an exhibition of collodion and silver glass photographic plates and bronze sculpture presented in a specifically organized dark space. The project delivers an intimate story of a Russian girl discovered in Moscow by the American artist. Katya, the subject of the exhibition, personifies the archetype of mythic crossroads—a primary theme in Dorsa’s work.

Katya was born in the Far East of Russia to a candy maker and a lighting technician at a local cultural center. When she was three years old her parents separated. Soon after, her mother turned to religion and took the vows to become a nun. Mother and daughter moved into an Orthodox monastery, where they stayed until Katya turned 13 and they both relocated to Moscow. With her new freedom in the megalopolis, Katya entered the Moscow freak circle of extreme subculture where she became involved in various forms of body modification.

Katya’s journey from strict Orthodox monastic life, where she spent ten years from the age of 3 to 13, through the Moscow underground, is chronicled on her skin, face and body. Dorsa imprints her form on glass and in bronze, capturing the topography of the untraceable crossroads—a mythic location “between the worlds” as well as a highly personal moment in life, a moment of transition from suffering to illumination. Katya’s body language exposes emotions that reign between brave publicity and fragility. Seemingly identical, images of Katya are reproduced with obsessive repetitiveness, which brings about an intense symphonic effect. The exhibition is as much a penetrating psychological portrait of Katya as it is a self-portrait of the artist.

Dorsa’s exhibition in Venice brings together a significant body of new work realized over the past three years.