Madina Akhmedova

Madu Akhmedova, born 1996, Moscow, Russia, but her roots belong to Dagestan Republic,where she spent all of her childhood. Madu is an interdisciplinary artist working in mixed media,with painting being her primary medium. Madu’s creative approach is characterized by a fusion ofdiverse techniques and materials. Through her work, she explores the binary nature of reality,ways to go beyond dualistic thinking. Through visual representations, she strives to conveytranquility and passion, intertwining expressions and meditative states as two contrasting yetharmonious elements of a singular whole. Madu received her bachelor's degree in journalism at Lomonosov Moscow State University, and isnow studying at the Backstein Institute of Contemporary Art in Moscow. Also, wants to get an MAin Fine Art at Goldsmiths University in Fine Arts. Madu's exhibition career began in 2018 inMoscow and since then her works have been shown in many galleries throughout Russia and theCIS countries. Her works can be found in collections in Russia, the Netherlands, England and theUSA.

During her stay at the MQ Art Residence, Madu would like to create a project called “Mind Station”, during which she will explore the nature and trajectories of humans mind, ways to redirect it and create works that in their form will reflect techniques aimed at analyzing the work of the mind. The human mind is like water. It flows. And this flow can be changed. Based on what we know from Western neuroscientific research and Eastern contemplative practices, the direction of the mind can be consciously changed. Madu believes that it is possible to discover this mechanism and apply when necessary. Basically, she wants to create a prototype room that will engage all the organs of perception (visual, olfactory, tactile) and redirect the mind from a chaotic excited state to a calmer, clearer and empty one. In the future she would like to implement this as a social object in the public space of the metropolis, and during her residency, she wants to use this time as laboratory research and experimentally create a prototype of the future mind station. She would also like to launch a final exhibition, which together with sculptural objects and paintings, will express the idea and make the statement holistic. In a conditioned daily routine, a person moves mechanically: going to the store, cooking, studying, working, even walking with loved ones turns into a routine experience, gray, devoid of freshness. “I would like to free perception from automatism” - says Madu.