Soft Futures showcases two interrelated works that explore care, resistance, and soft transformation through small gestures and intimate materials. Gestures of Care – Framed Futures is a drawing series set inside papier-mâché frames made from the artist's upcycled residency documents and visa papers. These materials—once tools of restriction—now hold tender scenes of connection between beings in imagined futures. The fragile structures are porous and soft, inviting openness rather than control. In her practice, Anna Bochkova explores tenderness in rigid and tough environments, weather historically or in the sense of speculative futures. In dialogue with this, Hidden Pockets is a sculptural work made of laser-cut steel, shaped like three jackets with forms reminding pockets. It draws on the history of how, in medieval times, women pockets were suspected of witchcraft—carrying knowledge or power that wasn’t allowed. Today, pockets still symbolize autonomy, privacy, and agency—especially for women. Working with the figure of the witch and dangerous femininity, Anna Bochkova creates sculptures which are filled with different narratives and codes.

Credits: Sophie Margue