Oasis

Curated exhibition

A garden begins with an enclosure, a line drawn to create a space apart. Within its bounds, the world can be re-ordered. It is a place of refuge and a site of cultivation, where the personal and the communal, the wild and the tamed, the mundane and the mythological can intertwine. In Oasis, her first solo exhibition at Medūza, artist Evy Jokhova transforms the gallery into such a space – a sanctuary for reflection and an archaeology of imagination.

The project finds its roots in the social fabric and DIY creativity of communal gardens in the Baltic region. These are spaces of remarkable resourcefulness and personal myth-making, where private narratives are cultivated on shared ground. Jokhova’s interdisciplinary practice has long investigated the dialogue between social anthropology, vernacular architecture, and art. Here, she turns her attention to the fertile ground where everyday objects sprout into symbols, exploring how enduring folklore stories can be woven from the threads of what was and what could be.

Informing this investigation is the work of Lithuanian archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, whose theories on a peaceful, matrifocal culture find resonance within the exhibition. Jokhova does not seek to illustrate the past, but rather to reactivate its spirit. She applies Gimbutas’ method of “archaeomythology” – reading deep meaning in humble artifacts – to the present day, treating the contemporary garden as a living archaeological site. In this space, ancient symbols of regeneration find their modern counterparts in the mass-produced as well as artist’s handcrafted objects, creating a dialogue between the deep time of prehistory and the vibrant vernacular of a Baltic courtyard.

The gallery is transformed into a landscape populated by these new relics. At the entrance, a quilted textile collage acts as a playful emissary. The piece unites elements from Jokhova’s previous work on Estonian mythology with the current context, creating a narrative in which Estonian gnomes, in a nod to the travelling gnome in the film Amélie, visit the communal gardens of Lithuania. Elsewhere, a large, dinosaur-like egg stands as an artefact of a speculative myth, its form both familiar and fantastical. This symbol of deep time, however, is presented with a sense of irony: it sits atop a kitschy, mass-produced garden frog statue purchased from “Senukai”, Lithuania’s largest chain of DIY and gardening superstores. This gesture is central to the exhibition’s logic, upending the distinction between a profound, handcrafted myth and an everyday garden ornament. It captures the blend of high creativity and consumer kitsch that characterises the resourceful, bricolage aesthetic of the communal gardens. These objects are complemented by a collaboration with woodcarver Linas Žulkus: a photograph of a misty, placeless road is juxtaposed with a frame constructed from Palanga driftwood. This frame, carved with forest animals from Lithuanian folklore, does more than simply contain the image; it actively grounds it, embedding universal journey within the local narrative.

In a time marked by widespread ecological anxiety, the turn to the garden is not a gesture of escapism. Instead, Evy Jokhova’s Oasis presents this act as a potent model for resilience and regeneration. Here, the garden is posited as an act of poetic (resi)stance, a space where mythmaking can be cultivated. This alchemy, fusing ancient cosmology with the vibrant, living practice of the communal garden, suggests that the creation of myth is not a relic of the past, but a necessary activity to be cultivated in the here and now. Functioning as a seed planted in the fertile ground of the gallery, the exhibition is a reminder that in the simple, generative act of tending to a place, we engage in the fragile art of world-making, creating a refuge where new narratives can take root and grow.

Curator and text author: Paulius Petraitis
Artist: Evy Jokhova
Additional exhibition text: Ann Mirjam Vaikla
Photography: Laurynas Skeigiela

Press:
Review by Justė Kostikovaitė | Echo gone wrong
Photo reportage

Oasis
2025.07.18-08.23
Medūza