Maria Ansh | Symbiotic Drift
Maria Ansh is an artist based in Philadelphia. Her practice investigates multi-being—the layered existence of the self in dialogue with space and society. Drawing on childhood memories of village life in Russia, where local traditions intertwined with care for animals and belief in the mystical, she developed an early sensitivity to the interdependence of nature, people, and ritual. This grounding later expanded into a decade of street art, where painting on rooftops, trains, and buildings shaped her visual language of intense tones, textured depth, and elemental forms.
Her work weaves together figurative and abstract registers, often through recurring motifs such as water lilies or hybrid figures that merge mythic and personal references. These images form a system of visual memory, mapping how identity is shaped by both inner multiplicity and the weight of social norms. Through painting, sculpture, and collage, she gives form to shifting selves—each iteration opening new and unpredictable connections with the world.
She studied at the Moscow Humanities and Technology Academy and completed an intensive with Ilya Fedotov-Fedorov in 2025. Recent exhibitions include Beneath the Surface: Spirituality in Art (ARC Gallery, Chicago, 2024), Time of Ghosts (Art-Studio Kitakima, Moscow, 2022), and Birdcatcher’s Pocket (Prima Gallery, Moscow, 2021).
instagram: @impres27 | mariaansh.com
Untitiled, 2025
The birth of new Narcissus, 2025
2025
Courtesy of the artist
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