The aesthetics of destruction in the visual arts is called the tendency or movement towards the visible destruction of the artistic whole into a work. Under the influence of historical events and revolutions in the cultural sphere, the direction had the greatest intensity in the 20th century. When cleansing and destruction became a reaction to shocks.

Destruction manifested itself in various forms and became the most aggressive genre of modern art, opposing social and cultural conditions. Deformity, pathology, inferiority, the struggle for racial, sexual and ethnic equality are becoming popular topics of reflection. Artists destroy the works of other authors, damage cultural and religious objects, cause a feeling of unease or anxiety through disharmony of composition, use the technique of hyper-naturalism, irony and sarcasm. Dismantling, burning, sharp or altered sound, disassembled text, images of the body in a state of injury or pain, and more can be considered destructive means of the art of destruction.

The Belarusian artist Zhanna Gladko worked with the method of destruction in her artistic practice. The project "Presence" (2011 - 2017), touches on the topic of religious consciousness. The author captured the objects of religious worship found in the parental home: icons, lamps, crucifixes, images and more. The artist explores a philosophical statement, in which the destruction and denial of a phenomenon, affirms its existence.

Photographs printed on white fabric form a multi-layer installation, superimposed on each other, blocking the main image from a direct view. The faces of the saints on the icons are deformed by the artist: sewn up, translucent, carved, hidden from the eyes of the spectator.