Step into the artistic worlds of Ihti Anderson and Warluyinya. Ukrainian visionary artist Ihti Anderson has spent over two decades transforming festival spaces with intricate rope-and-textile canopies, UV-reactive works and immersive psychedelic environments. Australian artist Warluyinya, a proud Yorta Yorta and Warlpiri woman, draws on culture, connection and personal spirituality to create vibrant contemporary Aboriginal art filled with colour, power and love.
Read the full interview to discover the stories, ideas and experiences behind their work.
Interview with Ihti Anderson (UA)
First of all, hi! It’s awesome to have your work in Kosmos. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
– Hey! My name is Yuri, and I’m from Ukraine. I started my art project, Ihti Anderson, about 20 years ago, and it has been a long journey. I’ve travelled a lot and participated in many different events, both big and small. But at some point, I felt that I wanted to return to my roots and my homeland. That was six years ago, then the war began in my country. I’m now serving in the military and doing my best to keep the enemy away from my home, that’s why I can’t travel or be there with you at Kosmos Festival. But my art can travel, so I hope you’ll enjoy it.
How do you make your canopies?
– I can say I have a unique approach for most of my canopies. Especially during compilation of textile pieces into a big mandala canopy, sounds weird, but I do it in the air. I play with the shape of each piece of textile thinking about the most interesting shape, strength and even its aerodynamics, cutting and painting each piece using airbrush and brush, and then my favorite part: compilation of the canopy in the air.
I create a strong and precise rope structure and connect each piece to the ropes, playing with three-dimensional shapes.
I think I was one of the first guys who started to use transparent mesh in deco. I was inspired by psychedelic experiences, and somehow many of my visions resembled energy fields, spirits, jellyfish-like creatures. I was trying to reach that transparency and luminous look in my decos.
In your perspective, how has the visual side of psychedelic culture evolved over time – particularly in response to world events? How do you see its future?
– From my perspective, the visual language of psychedelic culture has always acted as a mirror of collective consciousness. It changes not only with artistic trends and technology, but also with personal experiences of each individual artist…
World events definitely influence a lot. During the wartime, it is super hard to create art or exhibit art, as the whole atmosphere is unsupportive. But I think for artists, it is natural to go through periods of expression and realisation, as well as periods of absorbing experiences. So this hard time is exactly the time when I’m trying to slow down and absorb new experiences, knowledge and understanding.
The future psychedelic aesthetic may become less like a poster on a wall and more like a living environment – responsive, immersive and offering a unique experience to each participant.
As we know, you are actively fighting the Russian invasion in Ukraine. We’ve read articles about rave culture giving people hope even in times of war. It’s a grim subject to think about while partying, but it’s the reality. Would you like to send any greetings to us?
– Most of my life I was a creative hippie artist and definitely against the war. I could never have imagine myself in the role of a soldier. But when you’re living a peaceful life in your sweet hometown, where also your best friends and your family live, and then suddenly the news say that a war has begun…
Ok, terrible, but you try to keep on living your peaceful life, to stay happy and ignore the negative vibe. Then, at night, you wake up because of the air alarms, and the drones are flying above your home. You hear the explosions, you can see the fire and disaster happening in the neighbourhood from the window. You think: why? It’s just normal civilians living here! They don’t deserve this, we don’t deserve this.
What can you do? You have a choice to run away to a safe place, stay and remain in danger, or try to do something. But why should I have to leave my hometown, my family, my friends, my house and everything I love, and perhaps allow it all to be destroyed, just because someone decided to take it over?
So I decided to stay and do what I can…I volunteered during the first year of the war, but it’s hard to understand the real impact of my volunteering. I started to think about how I could be more effective. So I became a military engineer working in the laboratory, fixing, modifying and creating upgrades for drones mostly for Ukrainian intelligence. I believe my contribution is important, and I hope we can stop the enemy and get back to our peaceful and creative lives.
Guys, I’m so glad you can have a festival where people can enjoy life, dance, see the beauty in each other and express their talents – all this is the total opposite of war. I believe in collective consciousness and our world now definitely needs more of that positive energy right now.
Interview with Warluyinya (AU)
Hi! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
– I am Alexandra Napanagka Allemand, or Warluyinya, which means fire in warlpiri and light in yorta yorta. This is from both my mobs language.
This will be your first time in Finland. What are you expecting from your visit and your experience at Kosmos?
– This is my first time in Finland and I’m expecting a lot of new and exciting terrains. Dancing in the forest in Finland just seems too good to be true, let alone being able to paint and share my art so far from home. I’m also expecting to make a lot of new friends in the forest.
How would you describe your art?
– My art is contemporary aboriginal art, mainly on bark, wood and leaves, anything natural from the earth, I also do indigenous watercolour paintings, some representing the female essence and power as well as tales of the dream time and my interpretation of the land and telling stories from my life experiences through my art.
“My work is about the connections and the culture of my people. I paint with lots of colour, lots of power and lots of love, while celebrating the oldest living culture in the world, my culture, the aboriginal culture.”
