Katiushka Melo (b. 1977, lives and work in Germantown, NY) is a performance artist who’s practice intertwines myths, symbols and rituals with ideas of extraction, cultural appropriation and the destruction of native roots. Kitchen Altars is Katiushka’s latest work, a series of “sacred” totems, made from collected packaging, mass produced things, household items, containers and tools needed to perform domestic chores as well as treasured pieces from nature.

Katiushka has often invoked indigenous women, shamans or brujas in her performances. In this work, during a year of solitude, she has created totems for her mythological characters. These women that Katiushka embodies have a totem, an altar, to turn to for sacred liberation, a lonely unrepressed moment to soak up all the grief built upon centuries of colonized repression. Her work is meant to emphasize the struggle for women - especially those marginalized - to find an equal space within society.
Kitchen Altars is a reflection of this moment, turning inward to our inner spiritual practice, a connection to the past but yet a remnant for the future.