Over The Slopes of Speech (2022-2024)
Watercolor, paper, ink, various dimensions.
https://www.nika-projects.com/exhibitions/over-the-slopes-of-speech
Over the Slopes of Speech is a series of monumental watercolor triptychs that explores the multifaceted narratives and histories of women immigrants. The project originated from dialogues and interviews the artist conducted with women in the United States and during a month-long residency in the United Arab Emirates in 2024. These profoundly personal stories form the basis of the paintings, which reflect on themes of home, borders, displacement, resilience, and human destiny.
The title is drawn from a line in Mahmoud Darwish’s poem No More And No Less, which speaks to the importance of women and their refusal to accept roles imposed on them by society. Inspired by this idea, the works foreground individuals whose experiences are often overlooked yet remain deeply intertwined with contemporary history.
Muromtseva began many of her conversations with a simple question: “When did you start feeling that your life was influenced by larger historical events beyond your control?” Through these exchanges, she sought to explore how history might be told not by politicians or institutions, but by those who experience it firsthand. Combining personal testimony with visual interpretation, the paintings transform lived experiences into large-scale compositions that blur the boundaries between documented reality and artistic imagination, offering an alternative way of understanding migration, memory, and belonging.
Exhibition view, Nika Project Space, Dubai, 2024. Photo credits: Ivan Erofeev
