A broad consensus agrees that those who suffer from drug addition are in the grip of something painful to shake, often with severe consequences for the individual, their immediate community, and for society at large. As such, opinions about the social nature of drug addiction are widespread, spanning scapegoating and stereotyping about a supposed moral weakness and deficit desires (often dictated from afar and made with a problematic sense of superiority) to support and solidarity in close proximity.

In the project "OPIUM", ZINAIDA continues to explore women's prominence in life processes, tracking the transformations of the harmful effects of drugs on women along themes of wills, fortitude, and stamina.

A woman is like a flower. In the course of its development, it changes, passing fully through the usual stages: birth, blossom, and finally, ageing.

Succumbing to the deceptive spell of sensual pleasure, a wonderful herb that was once juicy transforms into an exhausted old woman. The bright colours of red and black velvet turn into that of hollow and dead wood, and the woman-flower is filled with poisonous fumes, bringing the inevitable death of the body. And this is how the pretty girl, swallowing sudden death and disappearing from human life, leaves memories after herself with a fatal taste of bitterness.

Author of the text: Dmytro Horda-Horytsvit

The project has been shown in the group exhibition Women's Art Project, art centre Chocolate House (Kyiv, Ukraine, 2016).