Being-in-itself
A pile of black fertile soil, or "Chornozem", as it's called in my native Ukraine, is a powerful symbol - of my country, my roots, and what my life used to be. the writings around it say “Source”, “Soil”, “Dust”, “Mud”, “Earth”, “Property”, “Home”, and “Land”. They convey all the different ways a person can perceive this soil, based on their personal experience.
The idea appeals to Immanuel Kant's "thing-in-itself" - an object as it is, independent of representation and observation. However, our perception of the object is not independent, it is determined by feelings, beliefs, knowledge and experiences of each individual.
The one and only thing that gives me the immediate sensation of being Home, regardless of which country I am in, is the smell of wet soil after the rain. And while I cannot recreate the "Chornozem" installation in its entirety due to the EU restrictions on soil and agricultural produce import - I still have just a handful of rick black Ukraininan soil with me. It is an old tradition to bring a handful of soil as a keepsake, to carry the Motherland on a long journey. If the journey ends in the foreign land and the traveller has to be buried there, the soil of his homeland is thrown in his grave - "earth to earth, dust to dust".
The concept of soil, of earth and Earth is bigger then a dot on the map that indicates my location. I am carrying my earth with me, the Earth carries me. We co-exist.
Soldiers. Oil on cardboard. 100x80
Frontline. Oil on cardboard. 100x80
A boy. Oil on cardboard. 100x80
The WAR 2022
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Remain a human. Oil on canvas. 100x100.
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Katherines
Photo series, video-installation
Photo-motion, white screen, projector, faux fur, fan
2017-2019
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Inspired by “Katherina” poem written by T.G. Shevchenko
Following the footsteps of established writers and photographers, I chose the way of critical metaphors, rethinking the fate of modern day "Katherines" . I follow them to the real rock bottom, meet "Les Miserables" who exploit the position they are in.
I travel to the forgotten "underbelly" of Ukrainian villages and find my "heroines": welfare-less mothers with more children that they can provide for. I saw them as stuck in their destructive "comfort zone", unwilling to change anything about the way they live. On the other hand, limited access to the information and the outside world at large makes such changes almost impossible and the grim scenario is bound to continue.
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Crown of thorns
Collaboration with Alex Zakletsky
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The object was created during the Coronavirus lockdown.
Since twisted pair cabling is a type of wiring used for communications and in combination with hypodermic needles it became the most obvious choice as symbolic medium for “Crown of thorns”.
I am reflecting on dramatic chalanges to remain social conected during the global public health crisis and the integral role of digital media as a kind of countdown of new epoch.
From the "Foodstuffs portraits" photo series
Group exhibition in Modern Art Research Institute of Art Academy of Ukraine
Photoshoot with the "Foodstuffs portraits" shawl
From the "Foodstuffs portraits" photo series
Foodstuffs portraits
Series of shawls
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Digital fabric printing
100x76 cm
2019
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The array of things that a person puts on a supermarket's moving belt creates an instant portrait of his or her personality. Two loaves of bread, a bottle of Vodka and bottle of baby formula. We know nothing about this customer, however the brain involuntarily makes conclusions based on our imagination edited by experience. Issues of alcohol abuse, child abuse or are we just prejudiced? And then even more scenarios come up in our head.
What I'm trying to point out is that art can’t make someone a better person or citizen all by itself. Multidimensional approach should be used - where different institutions such as family, education system, morals and propaganda, environment work together to achieve a holistic influence on a person. Art in this system could be means of reaching moral or educational goals, creating awareness, raising uncomfortable questions. In skillful hands.
Consumption and Overuse
Collaboration with Ave Libertatemaveamor
Installation
Rymi Art Gallery
Curatorial project
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Virtual tour of Rymi Art Gallery's stand at Kyiv Art Week 2020
Project: Cinema
Artists: Ksenja Oksin, Ave, Margo Reznik, Julia Beliaeva
Concept: We are the characters of a movie that has no director. Actors around us improvise and no one knows the finale. Everyone has their own individual dramas and comedies, in the genre that could be most accurately described as apocalyptic anti-utopia. It seems like a luxury to contemplate on the future of humanity while we all need to work and provide for our present. But will the immersion in our current affairs protect us from their consequences? We witness the retranslation of reality through screens. Information has an immense power. The internet makes all the knowledge readily available. At the same time constant information flow could be morally exhausting and destructive. In the reality of constant information noise clarity gains the most value. This project is a single spatial composition — a private cinema. The projector is used to show Margo Reznik's video art, there is Yulia Belyayva's work "Deformation" in auditorium, white neutral furniture is used as a background for the "Noumenonon. Thing-in-itself" art-objects by Ave and Oksin. There is conceptual art on the walls as well, represented by two paintings. Golden dog house is last but not least object of this installation, channelling our inability to escape ambiguity.
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Part of warning radar system for missile defence. 1976-1989
The screening for radiation when exiting
Acrylic Glass Print. Fragment.
Part of warning radar system for missile defence. 1976-1989
Made in Chornobyl
​Project contains photo series, installation, video and paintings which were created during the art residency in Chornobyl Exclusion Zone.
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2019
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I chose to use the object as mundane and obvious as a large Mason jar filled with water. This 3 liter jar is used as a lens, distorting the picture seen through it. The picture "through the looking glass" looks deformed, uglified - or strangely beautiful. Everyone can find this non-conventional beauty if they step outside the box or socially approved norms.
In a certain sense Chernobyl is that Mason jar, a "canned", locked down area that stirs up feelings of pain, fear, bitterness and compassion. Walking around Pripyat town, visiting abandoned villages transports us to the post-apocalyptic scenes, where reality is forever distorted by the tragedy. 33 years after the humans left this place the nature slowly takes over and completely wipes off the remains of the civilization. Wild animal population has grown substantially: moose, lynx, eagle owls, Przhevalsky horses, wolves and many other endemic species. Thick wild forest replaces the arranged raws of the old one.
All of this is happening against the humans, and still humans remain the main exhibit in this tragedy.
There is a strict rule in the Zone - everything you bring in you have to take out. Workers and locals use reusable containers. This might be the only place in Ukraine where there is no trash piled up on the sides of the road, and the nature is respected and treasured. When we needed water for plain-air, the Chernobyl cafe worker offered to can the water in the large Mason jars. This staple of Soviet era inspired me for the “Exhibits” textile printed series.
