18 Nov Ekaterina Ilina
Cruce Residency Program | October 2025
The Broken Heart Vessels is a sculptural project that explores the transformation of grief into light. During meditation, I envisioned the collective sorrow of those who were forced to change their faith and abandon their homeland — the Moriscos. A broken heart appeared to me: fragile yet sacred. Inspired by Sufi philosophy, the heart is seen as a vessel and a mirror of the Divine. Even when fractured, it can still contain and reflect light.
The form of the sculpture refers to Moorish and Andalusian vessels, blending spiritual symbolism with the language of material fragments — wire, concrete, stone, mirror, and reclaimed ceramic pieces.
Everyone is invited to contribute their own fragments of old ceramics or tiles, so that collective memory and personal stories can become part of the work.
BIO
Ekaterina Ilina was born in Cheboksary, Russia, in 1991. She lives and works in Tbilisi, Georgia. She studied at the Department of Ceramics and completed courses in monumental art at the Stieglitz Academy in Saint Petersburg. She practices Vipassana Buddhist meditation and has studied the basics of Jungian psychoanalysis in an online school, which shaped her interest in exploring the personal and collective unconscious.
She began her artistic journey with painting, gradually shifting toward a site-specific approach and experimenting with various media. Her practice includes textiles, installation, mosaic, sculpture, and metalwork.
Since 2024, she has participated in group exhibitions in independent art spaces in Tbilisi and has taken part in artist residencies in Italy and Spain.