MUNTHE ART MONDAY: MAYA GOLYSHKINA

Please introduce yourself and tell us about what you do.

My name is Maya Golyshkina, and I’m a performance and self-portrait artist.

In my practice, I explore the intersection of identity, visual storytelling, and constructed reality. Much of my work involves transforming myself into a character, object, or scenario that challenges traditional expectations of what a self-portrait can be. I use everyday materials, costume elements, and performative gestures to build surreal yet relatable scenes.

What attracts me to self-portraiture is how limitless it is - I can be both the subject and the creator, the observer and the observed. My images often blur boundaries between humor and seriousness, fantasy and honesty, creating a space where people can question how identity is shaped, performed, and perceived.

Can you name some other female (artist) that inspires you and explain why they do so?

I love Cindy Sherman — absolutely. I find her work incredibly strong and inspiring. What resonates with me most is the way she constantly shapeshifts between identities, roles, and worlds. She treats her own body as a canvas for storytelling, performance, and critique, and she does it with such subtlety, intelligence, and irony. Sherman’s ability to reinvent herself in every image shows how fluid identity can be. Her work reminds me that self-portraiture doesn’t have to be about presenting oneself — it can be about questioning the entire concept of self. That freedom is something I deeply connect to and often carry with me in my own practice.

Maya is wearing the LIX BAG and LESSIAH JACKET.

What would you like people to notice in your artwork?

I want people to notice the freedom of expression and the openness to being yourself.

Could you explain more about how being a woman has affected your career?

In my work and career, being a woman has always been closely connected to how I explore themes of representation, perception, and social norms. As I mentioned, I have always been against discrimination toward women and have actively tried to broaden the horizons of how the female body is perceived.

This means not only resisting stereotypes but also reclaiming the narrative around the female body — presenting it in ways that are unconventional, humorous, subversive, or powerful. By doing so, I invite viewers to confront the biases they might not even realize they hold. In the art world, where women have historically been underrepresented or over-sexualized, I see it as a responsibility to show alternative versions of womanhood: raw, playful, strange, confident, and unfiltered. My art becomes a way of advocating for autonomy, complexity, and freedom.

What has been the most challenging aspect of being a woman in the arts?

There is still a lot of judgment and misunderstanding surrounding women’s bodies. This especially affects artists who use their own bodies as part of their work. People often project their assumptions, insecurities, or biases onto the female form, which can lead to misinterpretation or oversimplification of the artistic intention. Instead of seeing the body as a medium for expression, some viewers automatically sexualize it or dismiss it, and that creates challenges — not only in how the work is received, but in how freely one feels able to create. I try to use this tension as a tool: by confronting these attitudes head-on, I push viewers to acknowledge their own preconceptions and hopefully move beyond them.