commentary
Welcome to the Small Courtly Zoo of the Diva—a spectral menagerie of devotion and distance. In this series of five sculptural creatures, Alina Kleytman conjures imagined beings forged from medical plastic: skeletal, sinuous forms that echo the anatomy of animals while resisting classification. Each PET—LOLA, PEDRO, ELON, KONSTANCIA, and RAPHAEL—bears the presence of a relic, a heraldic sign, or a spectral mascot of a one-woman empire.
Though they resemble fragile bone or fossil, these bodies are synthetic and untouchable, artificial extensions of care and control. Their curled tails and poised postures suggest silent gestures, signatures, or withheld stories—an allegorical bestiary where devotion is theatrical and irreversible. Haunting and ceremonial, these works draw on motifs of spectacle, submission, and imperial femininity. Kleytman’s creatures appear frozen in reverence, but beware: they may awaken.