My work is anchored by the idea of - The Fragment
The Fragment - is a metaphor for my identity and a symptom of a broader cultural condition
Having spent my youth in a republic of the now-dissolved Soviet Union, I am its fragment,
dodging belonging while pursuing a personal vernacular
The Fragment - is evoked in large-scale installations (refuges) comprised of various objects, sized to my body
These ‘Refuges’ are presented in their passive form and require specially designed performances (rituals) and garb to be activated
When activated, The Refuges accentuate the concept of - The Fragment

Liliya Lifanova’s multidisciplinary practice encompasses performance, video, painting, drawing, and sculpture. She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL (2010), and the Fulbright Fellowship in Installation Art (2011-2012). Lifanova has been an artist-in-residence at Gridchinhall Artist Residency, Moscow, Russia (2012), Triangle Arts Association, New York (2013), Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE, Artist’s Alliance, New York (both in 2015), Illinois State University, Normal, IL (2016), Residency Unlimited, New York (2016), HB 1st Floor Studio Residency, New York, NY (2017), and more recently at Curatorial Program for Research Artist Residency, New York, NY (2019), and Palazzo Monti Artist Residency, Brescia, Italy (2022). Recent exhibitions include What Grows Where It Flows, International Çanakkale Biennial of Contemporary Art, Monitor Izmir, Çanakkale, Turkey; Mind, Art, Experience: 10 Years of Chess & Culture in Saint Louis, World Chess Hall of Fame and Museum, St. Louis, MO; touch, Marissa Newman Projects, New York, New York; Flight Over Wasteland, Knockdown Center, Maspeth, NY; PUSH/STRIKE/RESIST, Equity Gallery, New York, NY; Time + Space (Beginnings), Bemis Center, Omaha, NE; Rumour from Ground Control, Rooster Gallery, New York, NY; Pixel, Elga Wimmer Contemporary, New York, NY; It’s a Bored Nation, Kunsthalle Projects, Brooklyn, NY; Anatomy is Destiny, Museum of Contemporary Art, Saint Louis, MO; Artists Choose Artists, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY. Her work is included in the Permanent Collection of Art in Embassies, US Department of State, Brookfield Corporate Art Collection, and in several private collections. The artist lives and works in New York.