Anastasia Samoylova is a Russian-American artist
Episode 313: Anastasia Samoylova is a Russian-American artist whose recent books FloodZone and Floridas have been published by Steidl.
Ana’s work is centered on ecology and the advancing complications that humankind is entering with climate change. Her work has been geographically focused on America, particularly Florida, where recent unfortunate events have given visibility to the issues she documents. Her book FloodZone was an acclaimed investigation into these themes, which we spoke about in the episode, as well as Ana’s background both in her coming to America and her education, amongst other topics regarding her various genres of practice between lyrical documentary and abstraction.
Her book Floridas is her most recent book. The book continues the themes of Florida as a subject but is a widened look at the geography of Florida through her work and the work of Walker Evans, who spent time in both photography and painting in Florida. Evans’s work, known for its vernacular use of signs and architecture, feels very similar to Ana’s. Throughout the book are images by Evans and Ana playfully pit one vision against the other over the course of the past 70 years with an emphasis on Florida as the subject. The book also, perhaps unsurprisingly, contains a great piece of writing by Evans scholar David Campany, a writer who has also collaborated with Samoylova. Please tune in to hear about Ana’s work and experiences with Evans.
