Emerging Ukrainian Artists
As part of the Ukrainian Institute’s ongoing educational program ‘ Portfolio Review’ we are presenting the portfolios of participants who completed the program in the past years. The project aims to increase the potential and improve the ability of emerging Ukrainian artists to self-represent and collaborate internationally. We invite you to explore these portfolios and discover the creativity and innovation that characterize contemporary Ukrainian art.
Picking the Love Lock
I investigate into the romantic tradition of attaching love locks to bridges, a gesture that symbolizes eternal love for many. I wanted to challenge this notion by pick locking the locks, some of which I've broke and others found.
Picking the Love Lock, 2023, installation, stolen locks, video documentation
40 x 30 x 20
All the works of the series ‘40x30x20’ are divided into 40x30 cm pieces, which is the size of hand luggage and it was in this format that Sofiia had to pack everything important, including the paintings when she left Ukraine in 2022. The war affects and changes everything, and nature fully accepts its impact. Sofiia‘s works depict a beach that has responded to the war by growing wild plants on it.
40 x 30 x 20, 2022, oil and acrylic on paper; sound part
IN THE CHURCH THAT I WILL BUILD MYSELF
The creating of a safe space where I can freely experience things that I suppress or used to suppress. Is it escapism or a way out through? That is yet to be find out.
IN THE CHURCH THAT I WILL BUILD MYSELF, 2023, acryl on paper
Stepping Out of the Circle
The circle simultaneously symbolizes protection and isolation, reflecting boundaries and cyclicality. By repeating the ritualistic gesture of casting a circle, I find an exit, transitioning from a black object that symbolizes completion to a white object denoting a new beginning, thereby creating a space for immersion and transformation.
Stepping Out of the Circle, 2021, polyptych 5 elements, gypsum, acrylic plastic
Can you see me?
If you always hide your pain, will you be real to others? Once I thought, do I exist without pain? Is the world ready to accept me with this pain?
Can you see me?, 2022, video art
Dwellers
A joint meal as a symbol of unity and honesty of looking at each other. At the same time, the distance and individualization between the characters gives space for expression. Everyone has their own dish, although they all come from the same tree.
Dwellers, 2023, cotton fabric, pigments
After Harvest
My home, the memories of my childhood, is where I want to hide to find inner support. War erases, threatens, or cuts us off from the places of our childhood. And it seems important to me to preserve these memories.
After Harvest, 2023, oil on canvas, from series ’About Home’
On the verge of the subconscious
The artwork reveals corporality as an abstract phenomenon that only records the presence of a person, his being. Merging with space, the body reflects interconnection, loses individual integrity, leaving a stain. This acts as a peculiar way of partial preservation, proof and value of the individual’s existence.
On the verge of the subconscious, 2023, exposition
Vulnerability (Vrazlyvist)
This work shows human vulnerability to internal and external attacks. It is an allegory about how every day we injure ourselves by reproaching ourselves for something, comparing ourselves with someone, we don't accept ourselves as we are.
Vulnerability (Vrazlyvist), 2023, chamotte clay, semi-porcelain, wood fired in anagama, from series ’During the War’
Don’t Cry
The installation ’Don’t Cry’ contains 40 napkin boxes filled with sandpaper and is a part of the project ’Hug me with words, or maybe not: The language of (un)empathy’ which explores uncertainties in empathy, inappropriately using cheerful phrases, recognizable language patterns and emotional and physical reactions to them.
Don't Cry, 2023, installation of 40 napkin boxes filled with sandpaper instead of napkins, from series ’Hug me with words, or maybe not: The language of (un)empathy’
Tears that solidify and blood that doesn't clot
This work concerns Russia's war in Ukraine (before the full-scale invasion) which lasted from 2014 to 2022. ’Tears that solidify and blood that doesn't clot’ is a metaphorical representation of abnormalities in the biological body (where the dynamic becomes static and vice versa) caused by a higher degree of tragedy from the pain of loss.
Tears that solidify and blood that doesn't clot, 2020, polyester, cotton, wool, metal, salt solution
Hedgehog Family
8 pages from the daily life of metal anti-tank hedgehogs that live in my city.
Hedgehog Family, 2022-2023
From the big love
The project is dedicated to Darnytsia district, on the left riverbank of Kyiv, and includes a video and a large painting that was placed on the gallery wall, resembling a map or photo wallpaper. This map includes various noticed features and elements of the space. For example, the residents' deep love for creating flower beds was noted, and the space is full of abandoned fountains and Soviet monuments awaiting future dismantling.
