Olena Klochko was born in Bakhmut, Donetsk region. Began her art-career in the middle of 90-s on the St. Petersburg’s, at that time, free art-scene. She studied art at Stieglitz Art academy (Saint-Petersburg) and film-making (Moscow), worked as a fashion designer, performer, film-maker(film-director), but mainly- as artist and art-curator recently (“The Thin Red Line” art-project, 2021).
The main topic of Olena Klochko’s work is portraiture. Her portraits deal with psychological implications of existence in a body, the material appearance of a human being in this world. The “Nobody” part of it was added when Olena launched her first art project in her home town and presented it in the local museum. It reflected the feeling of loss and misplacement that followed breaking up with Russian art scene and confusion caused by changes in the minds of society and art circles in St Petersburg, where she had spent almost 20 years. First months were tough and made her feel a stranger in her native land, feelings that later turned into deep love and gave her a huge boost of creativity. The name Olena Nobody Klochko with which the artist rebranded herself in 2016-2017, following Homers Ulisses. These days, when Olena is forced to leave her country again, the name of Ulisses, the wanderer, the Nobody, seems to become uncannily apt. Many of her compatriots, especially people from Mariupol, who lost everything in the war, started calling themselves “Nobody”, and the name itself becomes an act of defiance.
Olena Klochko was invited by the artist Laurie G. from Pankow who is also exhibiting her work.