Untitled
Information
In this project, Olga Permiakova explored the experiences of women serving as soldiers in the Joint Forces Operation in Eastern Ukraine. Through interviews, she investigated their position within the predominantly male Ukrainian army, examining their challenges from a female perspective. Key responses from these conversations were transformed into stereograms—hidden messages embedded within images—created using photographs the women had recently shared on social media.
At the time, Permiakova found that the infrastructure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was designed almost exclusively for men, with little consideration for the needs of female soldiers. This lack of recognition led her to draw a parallel between their position and the concept of camouflage. Camouflage serves a dual purpose: it allows a soldier to disappear from an enemy’s view while simultaneously reinforcing a societal archetype of what a soldier should look like.
In Camouflage, Permiakova composed portraits of these women in a way that merged them with the landscape, creating a visual illusion that reflected their cultural and social invisibility. Through this work, she aimed to challenge perceptions of identity, visibility, and belonging within a system that, at the time, often overlooked them.
Graduation Show, Gerrit Rietveld Academy (Amsterdam, 2018)