Ukraine. Under a Different Sky
04 Nov 2022 - 12 Mar 2023
Julia Zakharova, The Rule of Two Walls, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
Roman Bordun, Irpin, July 2022. The apartment after artillery shelling, part of the Let’s leave it for better times project, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
Oleksiy Furman, Volodymyr Tykhonov,76, opens the door of his garage that has numerous bullet holes,on 28 April 2022 in Zahaltsi, Courtesy of the artist.
Oleksii Sai, Bombed, 2020. Courtesy of the artist.
Etchingroom1, Untitled, 2022.
Olga Drozd, The Spring Trip, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
The largest to date exhibition of contemporary Ukrainian art, organized in response to Russian military aggression, presents more than two hundred works by thirty-two artists. As of 24 February 2022, artists working in an array of media are faced with the necessity to record tragic events. Artworks presented at the exhibition give testimony to the brutality of the Russian invasion and appeal to the conscience of the world.
Ukrainian artists find themselves in the brutal clinch between the horrors of everyday life and political agreements. Forced to leave their homes, mobilized to fight, and anxiously awaiting the future, they’ve not abandoned making art. In response to current events, they’ve changed the content of their works. They document, and respond to, the suffering that surrounds them, and in every possible way try to draw the world’s attention to the injustices affecting Ukraine and its people. Their art makes it more difficult for us (and other Western countries in particular) to look away and return to the safety of our everyday life. Fortunately, Ukraine does still have its artists – says the curator of the exhibition, Marcel Skierski.
Ever since the 24 February, Ukraine and Ukrainian people are facing a completely new reality. – stresses Victoria Burlaka, curator of the exhibition. – In the mind of all Ukrainians, life has clearly been split into a “before” and “after.” There is also a new awareness that reality is different for everyone, it is multi-faceted (...).
There is a reality in which our desperately courageous struggle continues. There is also the paranoid, “twisted” reality of Russian war criminals. And there is also the reality of those who witness this confrontation with sympathy or distance themselves from it. War is not a situation in which bystanders can take the position of insiders, but at any rate the power of art allows them to feel as if they are living under our treacherous sky. This exhibition presents works that are the result of a direct reaction to what is happening and emphasize the entire tragedy and heroism of the current situation – she adds.
Artists
Piotr Armianowski and Mykhaili Zharzhailo, Andriy Bojko, Yuriy Bolsa, Roman Bordun, Taras Bychko, Igor Chekachkov, Bogdana Davydiuk, Olga Drozd, Etchingroom1 (Anna Khodkova, Kristina Yarosh), Oleksiy Furman, Daniil Galkin, Pavlo Itkin, Dmytro Iv, Andrij Jermolenko, Nikolay Karabinovych, Kinder Album, Waldemart Klyuzko, Daria Koltsova, Maria Kulikovska, Danylo Movchan, Stanislav Ostrous, Dasha Podolstseva, Andriy Rachinskyi and Daniil Revkovskyi, Margo Reznik, Oleksii Sai, Yuriy Sivirin, Mykhailo Skop, Oleg Tistol, Julia Zakharova
Curators
Victoria Burlaka, Beata Łupińska-Rytel, Marcel Skierski
Ukrainian artists find themselves in the brutal clinch between the horrors of everyday life and political agreements. Forced to leave their homes, mobilized to fight, and anxiously awaiting the future, they’ve not abandoned making art. In response to current events, they’ve changed the content of their works. They document, and respond to, the suffering that surrounds them, and in every possible way try to draw the world’s attention to the injustices affecting Ukraine and its people. Their art makes it more difficult for us (and other Western countries in particular) to look away and return to the safety of our everyday life. Fortunately, Ukraine does still have its artists – says the curator of the exhibition, Marcel Skierski.
Ever since the 24 February, Ukraine and Ukrainian people are facing a completely new reality. – stresses Victoria Burlaka, curator of the exhibition. – In the mind of all Ukrainians, life has clearly been split into a “before” and “after.” There is also a new awareness that reality is different for everyone, it is multi-faceted (...).
There is a reality in which our desperately courageous struggle continues. There is also the paranoid, “twisted” reality of Russian war criminals. And there is also the reality of those who witness this confrontation with sympathy or distance themselves from it. War is not a situation in which bystanders can take the position of insiders, but at any rate the power of art allows them to feel as if they are living under our treacherous sky. This exhibition presents works that are the result of a direct reaction to what is happening and emphasize the entire tragedy and heroism of the current situation – she adds.
Artists
Piotr Armianowski and Mykhaili Zharzhailo, Andriy Bojko, Yuriy Bolsa, Roman Bordun, Taras Bychko, Igor Chekachkov, Bogdana Davydiuk, Olga Drozd, Etchingroom1 (Anna Khodkova, Kristina Yarosh), Oleksiy Furman, Daniil Galkin, Pavlo Itkin, Dmytro Iv, Andrij Jermolenko, Nikolay Karabinovych, Kinder Album, Waldemart Klyuzko, Daria Koltsova, Maria Kulikovska, Danylo Movchan, Stanislav Ostrous, Dasha Podolstseva, Andriy Rachinskyi and Daniil Revkovskyi, Margo Reznik, Oleksii Sai, Yuriy Sivirin, Mykhailo Skop, Oleg Tistol, Julia Zakharova
Curators
Victoria Burlaka, Beata Łupińska-Rytel, Marcel Skierski