"Through my art, I question identity, body, and memory — creating images that are both intimate and unsettling."

Young woman with blonde hair, blue eyes, and light skin, smiling gently, resting her head on her hand, holding a rolled-up poster or printout in her lap. She wears a patterned shirt with stripes and floral designs, and a black wristwatch.

I am a visual artist working with painting, sculpture, textile and mixed media. My practice draws on Slavic roots and two immmigrations. I explore how social and internal systems of pressure shape female bodies, archetypal feminine images, and emotional expression, producing a shadowy, monstrous side of identity. My work examines the tension between the self as an individual as part of a family, group, or society, where external adaptation and self-regulation coexist with internal resistance.

BIO

Alina Karmadanova is a painter born in Siberia (Russia). She holds a Bachelor's degree in Architecture and Design. From 2018 to 2023 she worked and lived in Shanghai, China. From 2022 to 2024 Alina studied at Falmouth University (UK) and received her master’s degree in Illustration online. She graduated from New Brunswick College of Craft and Design with an advanced studio practice certificate. She was awarded a grant from ArtsNB in 2025 to support her artistic projects in New Brunswick. Alina exhibited her art in galleries in Russia, China, the UK, the USA and Canada over the past 6 years.

Artist Statement

In my practice, I explore how female bodies, archetypal feminine images, and emotions are shaped by social systems, leading to the formation of a shadowy, monstrous side of identity. I am interested in the tension between opposing states — the experience of oneself as an individual and as part of a family, group, or society. My work reflects how systemic pressure and restriction compel us to outwardly adapt, self-regulate, and self-censor, while internally resisting and rebelling.

My background in architecture and design informs my approach to working with space, the body, and their interaction through color, form, and tactile, volumetric objects. In recent years, my practice has shifted from painting and drawing toward multidisciplinary work. I use textiles, embroidery, papier-mâché, clay, installation, and collage as mediums that allow for a physical engagement with tension, imbalance, and transformation.

Artist CV

Alina Karmadanova | Fredericton, NB

alinablinkova@gmail.com

Education

2022-2024 MA Illustration, Falmouth University UK (online)

2023-2024 Advanced Studio practice, NBCCD, Fredericton, NB, Canada

2011-2016 BA Architecture and Design, Irkutsk, Russia

Grants and awards

2025 July - ArtsNB creation Grant, “Neopatriarchy” project

Exhibitions

2025 “Art in the Centre”, The Charlotte Street Arts Centre, Fredericton, NB, Canada (group)

2025 “Exhibition in the CACD’s open spaces”, Centre des arts at de la culture de Dieppe, Dieppe, NB, Canada (group)

2025 “Becoming US”, MCAF, International Art Center, Government House, Fredericton, NB, Canada (group)

2024 “Rise of the Divine”, “Divine Studios”, Saint John, NB, Canada (group)

2024 ‘Playground”, “George Fry Gallery”, Fredericton, NB, Canada (group)

2023 “Home”, International Art Center, Government House, Fredericton, NB, Canada (group)

2023 "The Narrative", Chateau gallery, Louisville, Kentucky, USA. (group)

2023 “Mars Popular Art Festival”, Wuhan, China (group)

2022 Creation Season 3, “Present and Future”, ASEAN Culture and Art Exchange center, Xiamen, China (group)

2016-2018 Various art shows in Irkutsk, Russia (solo and group)

Residencies

2026 “Duo Residency”, Centre des arts at de la culture de Dieppe, Dieppe, NB, Canada

2024 “Forest fairies” project, NBCCD summer residency, Fredericton, NB, Canada

Professional activities

2025-2026 Art-manager and contemporary art curator educational course, OnStudy, Calgary, AB, Canada (online)

2024 September - 2024 December - Catapult program and Artist Talk, by ArtsLink NB, Moncton

2024 May - 2024 August - Artist in Residency program coordinator for the City of Fredericton

2024 May - 2024 August - Creative casemates art shop and residency

2023 Co-Host “Artist lecture series” talks at Beaverbrook gallery, Fredericton, NB, Canada

Collections

ASEAN Culture and Art Exchange center, Xiamen, China

Selected press

2025 Interview: https://www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/new-brunswick/article/artist-unpacks-meaning-of-matryoshka-dolls-at-fredericton-workshop/

2024 Interview: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/immigrant-artist-exhibition-fredericton-home-1.7089816

2023 Interview: https://www.shtormit.fr/post/artist-alina-karmadanova-i-don-t-accept-the-life-of-a-poor-

Artist-it-s-not-my-story

Selected projects

Project: Neo Patriarchy

2025-2026

This project explores neopatriarchy — contemporary forms of patriarchal control that persist within modern social systems and intimate relationships. Through distorted female bodies and archetypal feminine symbols, the work examines how social expectations shape identity while producing a shadowy, abject dimension of the self.

Drawing on the concept of the abject, the project presents bodies that appear unstable, fragmented, or monstrous, reflecting the tension between imposed roles and internal resistance.

Supported by

Abject №1
Abject №2
Abject №3

Abject №4
Abject №5
Abject №6
Abject №4 (right)
Abject №5 (left)
Abject №6 (right)

Project: Inherited Shadows

2026 - present

Inherited Shadows explores how the shadowy dimensions of identity begin to take shape within childhood and family life. Drawing on her Slavic cultural background and personal family archive, the artist transfers photographs onto fragile surfaces and builds installations that resemble domestic altars populated by hybrid figures, totemic forms, and fragments of family memory. Within these assembled environments, private history and folklore give rise to a kind of personal mythology in which the inherited shadows of the self quietly persist.