Who is Komnata Chista?

Though Komnata Chista is actually a Russian (and, coincidentally, Czech) term meaning "clean room", a legend has grown up around the mystical character of the same name.

The tale goes something like this: Komnata Chista is a photographer/artist whose whereabouts are largely unknown at any given moment.  A recently repatriated Kazakstani, Komnata is seen often in Europe and in the Tampa Bay area of Florida.

The elusive artist's lifestyle and whereabouts are always unpredictable.  Her nomadic habits are dismissed by Chista as a survival technique in an uncertain world.  "One must be as uncertain as one's world," she has been heard to say in her thick accent through her flowing veils. Some whisper that Komnata keeps moving to escape a tragic past, but Chista has commented that she is, in reality, escaping a tragic future.

Still, the back rooms of fine galleries echo with tales of Chista as a fallen Sister of the Catholic Decanter; Chista disguised as a photographer of another name, escaping the oppression of her torn homeland; Chista, devoted member of a vegetable cult; Chista, the tortured artist seeking to capture her view of a sometimes brutal, sometimes humorous world with her camera, and eke out enough to subsist.

Enigmatic, always mysterious, and perhaps somewhat unlikely, Komnata Chista nevertheless exists on some plane in the mind and soul of Karren Tolliver.

Karren has forgone a successful career in computer systems engineering to devote her time and energies to her art. Given the meaning of the phrase and the legendary quality of Komnata Chista's story, Karren thinks it appropriate that Komnata Chista become the name of her photography adventure.