ALTER VISTA
My work explores a sense of in-betweenness — navigating life across borders, balancing the roles of mother and artist, and inhabiting the space between speech and a forced silence.
I create assemblages from antique ceramics, porcelain, and metal, restoring to functional life items previously intended for disposal. My method is a symbiosis of surrealism with functionalism, where I combine a preference for laconic forms with technical engineering solutions.
Through my work, I aim to challenge the culture of overproduction, inviting the viewer to see in the destroyed not just trauma, but newly created harmony.
Her work has evolved from the technical restoration of heritage lighting to a conceptual investigation of fragmented histories.
In 2020, she founded Alter Vista Crafts as a project merging technical expertise with an aesthetic focus on revival. This led to the launch of her Electricity as Art educational program in 2022, which has since provided technical and conceptual training to over 120 practitioners globally.
In 2025, relocating to the Cotswolds marked a definitive shift in her method as she moved away from the traditional concealment of defects to work exclusively with decommissioned fragments and ruins of the domestic sphere. Her practice is a symbiosis of functionalism and surrealism where she utilizes antique ceramics, metal, and electrical components to reassemble discarded materials into new light objects. Through these domestic totems, she addresses universal themes of memory, displacement, and the irreversible passage of time.
In 2026, her work gained recognition in the UK contemporary art scene when her installations were selected for "The Open: Odyssey" at Hastings Contemporary and the "Resonance Fabrica" showcase at Sussex Contemporary in Brighton.
Through her work, Olga addresses universal questions of memory, time, and ecology. She challenges the logic of the linear economy, inviting the viewer to see ruin not as trauma, but as a chance for a circular and conscious beginning. Her works are held in private collections worldwide.
Explore the materials used and the inspiration behind each piece.
An engineering reflection on the concept of homecoming. This beacon serves as a point of arrival through physical or internal darkness. Its illumination is kinetic, shifting with the movement of the viewer.
Materials: Antique fragments (brass and pewter), glass, raw chalk from the Seven Sisters coastline.
Technical details: Ceramic E14 lamp holder, fabric cable, mains powered, UK plug.
Dimensions: Height 24 cm.
Status: Artist’s Collection
Currently on Exhibition Reserve Selected for The Open: Odyssey Hastings Contemporary, UK |
28 March – 31 May 2026
This work explores the anatomy of a defect and the ways of navigating irreparable trauma.
The object fully exposes its back, acknowledging the impossibility of returning to its former state or function.
In this act of transformation, the hidden back becomes a new facade, while the integrated light turns the void of loss into a source of new energy. Here, illumination does more than just light up the piece; it manifests the object’s hidden history, turning its scars into conduits for a glow. The space created through destruction is inhabited by fragments of other broken entities, forming a new, fragile harmony. It is a search for an identity where inner light becomes more vital than outward wholeness.
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Materials: Reclaimed 19th-century earthenware, 20th-century porcelain, vintage brass, steel.
Technical details: Ceramic E14 lamp holder, fabric cable, mains powered, UK plug.
Dimensions:
Height 38 cm
Width 30 cm
Depth 22 cm
Status: Artist’s Collection
Can architectural integrity be achieved through the synthesis of disparate fragments?
Working with antique fragments and light, the project counters entropy through a stable architecture. It transforms resonance into a constructive force, creating a space that amplifies detail.
Materials: Salvaged antique porcelain and earthenware, pewter, steel, fabric.
Technical details: Ceramic E14 lamp holder, fabric cable, mains powered, UK plug.
Dimensions: Height 24 cm.
Status: Artist’s Collection Currently on Exhibition Reserve Selected for Resonance Fabrica x Sussex Contemporary Brighton, UK | 4 April – 19 April 2026
This work functions as a physical metaphor for the innermost sanctuary of the psyche. Drawing from the architectural concept of an 'adytum' - a restricted, sacred space - the object shields its internal glow behind a veil of chainmail. It does not seek to communicate or escape; instead, it exists in a state of quiet subsistence.
Materials: Antique fragments (brass), mid-19th century British ironstone, steel.
Technical details: Ceramic E14 lamp holder, fabric cable, mains powered, UK plug.
Dimensions:
Width 32 cm
Depth 27 cm
Height 30 cm
Status: Artist’s Collection
- AvailableWork is ready for purchase. International shipping is available upon request.
- Artist’s CollectionThese pieces are currently held by the artist for exhibition purposes and are not for sale at this time.
- Private CollectionThese works have been acquired and are no longer for sale.
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Forthcoming: Resonance Fabrica x Sussex Contemporary
Brighton, UK (Selected Artist) | 4 April – 19 April 2026
Forthcoming: The Open: Odyssey, Hastings Contemporary,
Hastings, UK (Selected Artist) | 28 March – 31 May
35th Community Art Exhibition (Virtual Reality), Circular ArtSpace,
Bristol, UK | 26 February – 22 March | Link to Exhibit
Existentialism Art Contest Online Exhibit, The Dalí Museum
(St. Petersburg, FL, USA) | Link to Exhibit
Engineer and artist
(Cotswolds, England)
Instagram: @the_alter_vista
Telegram: https://t.me/alter_vista_Olga
Available for commissions and collaborations
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©All Rights Reserved. Olga Chekmazova. Alter vista. surrealist functionalism. 2025-2026