Yelena Popova @ L'etrangere

Her Name is Prometheus, is a solo exhibition of Yelena Popova’s latest work, developed during her residency at Art House in Wakefield earlier this year. Popova was moved by the declining presence of sporting goods manufacture in the region and the story of Klaus Fuchs, a theoretical physicist (atomic spy) incarcerated in HMP Wakefield during the 1950’s.
Popova’s fascination in nuclear history and materiality informs her interest in the most deadly of man-made materials Plutonium, crucial for the development of atomic weapons. For the exhibition she created a gallery floor-game Townlets , a mobile, interactive, plastazote sculpture based on the molecular structure of Plutonium. An accompanying series of woodblock prints, inspired by ‘figures’ in the traditional Russian game Gorodki, suggest different balancing structures to build and knock down.