Yuma Radne: Playing with Hands

Incubator is thrilled to present Playing with Hands, Yuma Radne’s first solo exhibition in London. This body of work unfolds as a playful yet profound exploration of cultural identity, memory, and the rituals that shape our lives. Radne’s practice is an invitation into a world where the lightness of childhood games meets the weight of tradition, engaging in a dialogue between personal experience and cultural history.

Drawing from her Buryat heritage, Radne’s work serves as a window into the complexities of navigating cultural survival and adaptation. Situated at the crossroads of Russia and Mongolia, Buryatia’s history of colonisation and cultural blending is reflected in Radne’s paintings, where the tension between cultural preservation and transformation is explored. Her work speaks to a community’s resilience, redefining the notion of home through the lens of evolving identity.

The exhibition takes as its starting point the concept of play, transforming the simple structures of childhood games into potent symbols of cultural significance. Radne reinterprets Durak, a traditional Russian card game, and Rock, Paper, Scissors, or rather ‘Rock, Paper, Well,’ as metaphors for community life, survival, and the power dynamics inherent in cultural exchange. Through these reimagined forms, she offers a new perspective on familiar rituals, elevating them from mere games to expressions of collective memory and resistance.

Food, a universal and deeply personal symbol, also plays a central role in Radne’s work. The humble dumpling, a beloved dish known as ‘buuz’ in Buryat culture, becomes a multifaceted symbol — representing both the comfort of home and the act of preserving tradition. By incorporating this symbol into her paintings, Radne draws connections between the intimate act of sharing food and the broader act of passing down cultural knowledge across generations.

Radne’s bold use of colour and form enhances the narrative of her work, weaving an emotional texture that resonates beyond the visual. Her vibrant palettes pulse with energy, while primordial landscapes dissolve the boundaries between reality and imagination. These fantastical settings are imbued with a sense of fluidity as the world of reality slips into that of dreams.