Daniil Shumikhin. The Things That Change Around Us

The seated figure is devoid of individual features. We do not know whom we are facing, and have little to no signs that could help us to determine it. It is a generalized image, recognizable as a human but not as a specific person.

Despite the fact that its pose does not seem final, the figure is static. Nevertheless, there remains a certain tension in the lines of the body and in the spaces where the planes meet, indicating the possibility of future movement. The stasis here seems more like a pause, and we do not know how long it might last.

Devoid of features, the face is polished to a mirror-like shine. It says nothing about its owner. The surface reflects everything around it—space, light, movement, other people—instead. The face becomes a site where the external for a moment becomes a part of the figure itself.

This reflection is unstable. It exists only in the present, and only from a certain vantage point. The moment the light changes or the viewer shifts minutely in space, the image, too, changes. Physically, the figure remains the same, but the way we see it remains in flux.

Daniil Shumikhin's "The Things That Change Around Us" is an attempt to consider a person not in isolation. The boundary between a person and their environment is never completely clear. The external world leaves its temporary traces on one, changing depending on the circumstances.