Yana Payusova

is your halo on too tight?, 2023-2024

Is Your Halo On Too Tight? is a mixed-media body of work investigating the mechanics of propaganda, misinformation, and moral certainty in an age of post-truth. The project draws visual and conceptual inspiration from Soviet propaganda posters—images I have long admired for their bold formal clarity, even as I critique their ideological bluntness. Once relics of a distant past, these posters have taken on a disturbing new relevance following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

What initially seemed like absurd political theater—claims of “denazification” and historical revisionism—soon gave way to a chilling reality. The propaganda machine activated with startling efficiency, dividing public opinion and reintroducing the rhetoric of war-era nationalism. Watching this unfold, I was reminded of my own upbringing in the Soviet Union, where censorship was overt and truth was state-managed. But today’s landscape is more fractured: we are surrounded by information, yet starved for clarity.

Is Your Halo On Too Tight? reflects this contemporary paradox. Through visual juxtapositions, symbolic imagery, and satirical interventions, the work explores how individuals construct personal truths amidst the noise—often clinging to them with fervor. The title itself suggests the irony of moral superiority and the self-righteous certainty that often accompanies it.

This series is both personal and political, rooted in a desire to understand how belief systems form, fracture, and harden in the face of chaos. It asks: in a time when truth feels abstract—like a golden unicorn—how do we navigate the emotional and ethical terrain of our fractured world?

Is Your Halo On Too Tight? has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including:

Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX (solo exhibition)

C.R.E.T.A., Rome, Italy (three-person exhibition)

63rd Faenza Prize – International Biennial of Contemporary Art Ceramics, MIC Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, Faenza, Italy

In Apparatus, I created a porcelain Rube Goldberg machine—an intentionally over-engineered contraption designed to perform a simple task in an unnecessarily complex way, in this case, spreading propaganda. The project incorporates various stages, each representing different methods of disseminating information, progressing incrementally one small step at a time.

In Newtonian mechanics, the principle of causality suggests a direct, one-to-one relationship between cause and effect. This means that each force has a predictable and calculable outcome. Similarly, in Apparatus, each component in the chain of events triggers the next, mimicking the often subtle and gradual ways in which propaganda spreads through society, one seemingly insignificant action leading to larger, cumulative effects.

In Decoy I, II, and III, the surfaces of the three duck decoys are covered with images from old Soviet propaganda posters. The red decoy features imagery promoting the friendship between the former Soviet republics of Russia and Ukraine. The white decoy highlights the dangers of religious fanaticism, while the blue decoy focuses on the perils of prioritizing money. Beneath the surface, hidden Big Brother hands flash various gestures, subtly subverting the official message of the sculptures and indicating that things aren't as they seem.

Finally, in Za Rodinu (For Motherland), I draw parallels between the old and new realities of information dissemination. One side listens at the walls, referencing the old Soviet saying, "even the walls have ears," while the other side reflects the modern reality of information being blasted through a megaphone.