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5-Minute Bedtime Stories

For centuries, the breakup has been the prerogative of men. In the 19th century, the concept of romantic
love emerged as the basis for marriage and changed the game. Back in the days of arranged unions, if
things didn't work out, one could blame society. But since the conceptual evolution of the marriage
towards a sentimental vision, the breakup becomes an attack on the inner self.

Today, about half of all marriages in Europe end in divorce and, significantly, 75 percent of divorce
applications are filed by women. Perhaps that last statistic explains why women suffer more emotional
hurt and find it harder than their ex-partners to build a new lifestyle and relationships. The cruel logic
would be that if the woman marries for love and then decides it was a bad idea, the fault must be hers. So
she suffers psychological and social consequences – self-blame, stigma, or both.

The project 5-Minute Bedtime Stories resists this logic in a fabulous way. London-based artist Maria
Gvardeitseva, divorced after 20 years of marriage, four children, numerous countries, and shared
challenges, takes a pronounced political and feminist approach to the story of her separation, which
transforms grief, sorrow, and hatred in order to let them go. She offers artistic tools that help women to
look at the situation with self-love, rediscover the socio-political aspects of marriage, and cope with this
life trauma and the challenges of patriarchy.

She does this in a surprising way – by reference to fairy tales.

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Fairy Tales

Fairy-tale marriages are a tradition whether or not they have ever left the realm of fiction. In his
structuralist masterpiece, Morphology of the Folktale, Vladimir Propp ran through the standard elements
of every folktale, culminating with number 31: “The hero is married and ascends the throne”. 1

But a fairy-tale divorce? As Propp points out, the two elements which always get the story started, are:
“An interdiction is addressed to the hero”, and “The interdiction is violated.” So, for example, the hero (it
could also be a heroine) is told: “Don’t venture forth from the courtyard” or “Don’t pick the apples”. And
immediately he (she) ventures forth or picks the apples.2 The violation of an interdiction or an institution
– staying in the courtyard, not picking apples… or marriage – is what makes the epic story possible.

Using the fairy-tale parallel, Maria Gvardeitseva suggests that violating an interdiction or stepping
outside an institution can be a brave step with transformative consequences. Maybe a new and richer life,
or maybe ultimate return to the same institution in a more satisfactory form – Propp’s happy ending
where the hero or heroine “is married and ascends the throne.”3

What Propp says about initiation rites in fairy tales suggests a related point. The initiatory nature of
marriage – to the secrets of sex as used to be, childbirth, etc. – is not in doubt.

1
Vladimir Propp, Morphology of the Folk Tale (L. Scott, L. Wagner, trans.), Austin TX: University of Texas, 1968,
p. 63.
2
Ibid., pp. 22-23.
3
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1. Maria Gvardeitseva, Fading Away 22, 2023. 3D Printing, silicone, 99 photos. Courtesy of the
artist

Self-study.

2. Maria Gvardeitseva, 12 Fairy tales, 2023. Courtesy of the artist

From Nadia:

“…There was no shortage of princes in the dragon kingdom who were a match for her. But now the girl
knew to always make the choice herself. Always. No one ever deserves to be more important in your life
than yourself. And happiness is when you make all the choices in your life yourself. Today a dragon,
tomorrow a girl. Or vice-versa…”

3. Maria Gvardeitseva, Whispering. Healing. Love, 2023. Ceiling Installation: audio 2’23, dry herbs,
linen, wool, silk, viscose, dried frogs, mirror floor, sizes variable. Courtesy of the artist

The artist’s whispering in the sound installation Whispering. Healing. Love based on Shept (“Whisper”),
a book by the Belarusian author, Syargei Leskets, refers to archaic forms of folk healing. In Belarus, such
rituals have survived mainly in Polesye, a region of marshes where the impact of modern civilization has
been limited. Interaction with the unconscious, which the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan defined as "the
real: dream, hallucination and death”, enables the artist to plunge into archaism and timelessness.

4. Maria Gvardeitseva, Say Yes to the Dress: Hallucinations Ended. Video, 1'50 min, 2023.
Photographs from VEHA. Independent archive of Belarusian photography, The Thanatos Archive
and Department of Ethnology, Anthropology, Archeology and Museology, Omsk State
University. Courtesy of the artist

In the past, in some countries of Central and Eastern Europe (and in some to this day), there was a belief
that if a girl died before she got married, she had not come to fruition as a person and her soul was in
danger of wandering forever between the afterlife and the world of the living. To rescue her from such a
fate, the Slavs stylized the girl’s funeral to resemble a wedding, even appointing a young man in the role
of groom. He was dressed in special attire and walked beside the coffin in the funeral procession. The
girl’s body was clothed in a white dress with light-coloured shoes on her feet, and both she and “the
groom” were made to wear wedding garlands on their heads. Guests at the funeral were treated to a
special bread baked for weddings, songs were sung, and happy music was played.
There are other readings as well...

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5. Maria Gvardeitseva, Ending Sentimental Feelings, 2023. 3D Printing, silicone, artificial blood,
clitoral vibrator. Courtesy of the artist

Think only of the diamond engagement ring. It is actually a marketing success of the ruthless De Beers
diamond monopoly, and not a popular tradition: diamonds are rare because De Beers controlled supply
and they are popular because the company backed huge marketing campaigns, which made diamond
engagement rings de rigueur. The ring on a severed finger in Gvardeitseva’s installation emphasizes this
irony.

6. Maria Gvardeitseva, Self-Love, 2023. Triptych-video, 0'33 min, 0'40 min, 1 min, mirror floor.
Courtesy of the artist

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Cover

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Exhibition map + numbers

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Exhibition map + numbers

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Maria Gvardeitseva

Born in 1982 in Minsk, Belarus

Currently lives in London, UK

Maria Gvardeitseva is a multi-disciplinary visual artist based in London. Gvardeitseva holds a diploma in Marketing
from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK (2007), completed the New Media Course at the University of
Denver, Denver, CO (2011), and is working on an MA in Art and Politics at Goldsmiths, University of London
(2022-current).

In her works, Maria Gvardeitseva works ironically with themes of memory and sublimates pain in ways that are at
once realistic and fantastical. The political plays a key role in her installations, and in one of her recent exhibitions
Maria placed her Belarusian passport in a jar of formaldehyde, comparing torn documents to scattered anatomies in
naturalistic and medical museums. In the spirit of Didi Huberman's montage technique, Gvardeitseva works with
notions of severance, splitting the essence of objects away from their socially reproducible roles – all things
necessary to film-montage our lives.

Maria speaks clearly and straightforwardly of the pain and emotional experience of exile, the collapse of time and
the strangeness of love, leaving room for a metaphorical reading, where the versatility of emotions is the key to
subjectivation. Aesthetic distancing as a principle of Gvardeitseva's artistic practice creates room for thought and
gives physical awareness of the surrounding space.

Gvardeitseva has taken part in group and solo exhibitions, staged performances and was a finalist in the national
selection to create the exhibition for the Belarusian Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022.