The project’s title is a quote from Sheila Heti’s book How Should a Person Be?, in which the author tells the story of herself and her best friend—the artist—about their quests for identity in both art and life. The question “What should I be?” proves to be timely and universal, and above all, deeply in tune with contemporary art.

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The project’s artists work with feminine figures, yet their approaches diverge. Evgenia Bardina, a graduate of the Stroganov Academy, blends the rigor of the academic tradition with a playful, almost libertine style: her figures disassemble into fragments, mirror themselves, and then reassemble. Kristina Palett, who completed her studies at the Pratt Institute in New York, produces series of nearly identical faces—whether self-portraits or portraits of friends—but what remains constant is the sly, inquisitive gaze directed at the viewer.

“What Should I Be?” is an attempt to answer the questions we all pose to ourselves: How do others perceive me? How do I perceive myself? Perhaps there are no final answers, and both the artists and the audience continue their search intuitively, groping their way forward.