BEAST OF WAR, BIRD OF HOPE

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A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT & CEO AND EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

The Aspen Institute, in partnership with the Aspen Institute Kyiv, is proud to present the Beast of War, Bird of Hope virtual exhibit. This exhibit first opened in-person in Aspen, CO on our Aspen Meadows campus. This exhibit aligns with the Institute’s mission of driving change through dialogue, leadership, and action toward a more free, just, and equitable society. Our celebration of the humanities demonstrates our commitment to shared human values. Our partner, Aspen Institute Kyiv, since its founding in 2015, has been dedicated to building a strong democracy in Ukraine, based on those common values. 

As Ukraine faces Russian aggression, it is essential to convey what is at stake to Ukrainians, to us, and to the world. Through art, Ukrainian artists have found an outlet to release their emotions and share their lived experiences for the world to see. The exhibit is meant to facilitate connections with each other on a human level through the display of stories of human tragedy and resilience. We thank you for your interest in this exhibit and hope the works offer a new lens into the world of Ukrainians and we hope you will join us in pushing for peace.

Dan Porterfield                         Elliot Gerson
President & CEO                       Executive Vice President
Aspen Institute                         Aspen Institute

A MESSAGE FROM ASPEN KYIV'S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Ukraine’s fight for independence and territorial integrity caused a new wave of contemplations about eternal universal values and the complicated dialect of life and death. In all historical eras, art has had its own language, which showed the context of human existence. The sphere of artistic practice is a catalyst for reflective processes that show pain and suffering, but at the same time allow Ukrainians not to lose hope, show courage, and build a future.

Yuliya Tychkivska                       
Executive Director
Aspen Institute Kyiv

WELCOME MESSAGE
ALISA LOZHKINA, CURATOR

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Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign state, began back in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and the start of Moscow's orchestrated hybrid conflict in the Donbas. Yet it was not until February 24, 2022, that most of the world realized the destructive power of Russia’s conflict. Within weeks, tens of thousands of Ukrainians died, millions more became refugees and internally displaced people, cities were destroyed, and society became traumatized for generations to come.

For eight years, Ukraine has lived in a state of anxiety and uncertainty. Ukrainian artists of today have captured these feelings and conveyed them in such a way that demonstrates the pain, strength, and hope of the people. The Aspen Institute, a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society, founded in the aftermath of World War II, and its partner the Aspen Institute Kyiv, wanted to share the story of the war, its ongoing effects, and its lasting aftermath with the world through the medium of Ukrainian art and artists.

The art exhibition, now displayed at the Institute’s Aspen Meadows campus, includes works by twelve leading Ukrainian artists who have taken influence from the war. The exhibition title was inspired by the works of Maria Prymachenko, one of the most famous Ukrainian artists of the mid-20th century. 

WELCOME MESSAGE (CONT'D)
ALISA LOZHKINA, CURATOR

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World War II took the life of Maria Prymachenko's husband and left their son an orphan. The artist hated the war with all her heart and feared its reoccurrence more than anything else. She created several anti-war works, including The Beast of War, presented at this exhibition. The second original work by Prymachenko in the Aspen Institute exhibition is Bird. A bird is an ancient image of hope and good news in Slavic folk art. I dream that soon the bird of hope will bring good news to Ukraine that is tortured by the beast of war.

Alisa Lozhkina
Exhibition curator 

Alisa Lozhkina is an independent art critic and curator from Kyiv and currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Between 2013 and 2017 Alisa served as Deputy Director and Chief Curator at Mystetskyi Arsenal, the largest museum and exhibition complex in Ukraine. From 2010 to 2016 she worked as Editor in Chief at major Ukraine art magazine ART UKRAINE. Alisa has curated numerous art projects in Ukraine and abroad and written several books, including Permanent Revolution: Art in Ukraine, XX–early XXI century, which was published in Ukrainian in 2019 and translated into English and French.

BEAST OF WAR
MARIA PRYMACHENKO

BIRD
MARIA PRYMACHENKO

BEAST OF WAR + BIRD
MARIA PRYMACHENKO

Maria Prymachenko (1909-1997) is considered one of the greatest Ukrainian artists of the 20th century. A self-taught folk artist who worked in painting, embroidery, and ceramics, she was awarded the Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine in 1966. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared 2009 the year of Prymachenko. Pablo Picasso once said, after visiting Prymachenko’s exhibition in Paris, "I bow down to the artistic miracle of this brilliant Ukrainian." 

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Maria Prymachenko (village of Ivankiv, Kyiv region), 1908-1997

Beast of War. Gouache on paper, 1970s.
From the collection of Lidia Lykhach and Rodovid Gallery (Kyiv, Ukraine)

Bird. Gouache on paper, 1970s.
From the collection of Luke Noll (USA) 

BEAST OF WAR + BIRD
MARIA PRYMACHENKO

In 2022, Maria Prymachenko’s works were presented in the main curatorial project at the Venice Biennale of contemporary art. Her images have been replicated in street art in the United States and beyond as a call to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine.In February 2022, as the Museum of Local History in Ivankiv, Ukraine, was burning from a Russian bombardment, a local man reportedly went into the burning building to rescue up to 25 of her works.

This exhibition—named after these two paintings—marks the debut of both works of art. Beast had never left Ukraine until recently. Bird was exhibited only once, in Toronto.

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UNCERTAINTY
OLENA NAUMENKO

UNCERTAINTY
OLENA NAUMENKO

This painting was created for the exhibition at in Aspen, Colorado in June 2022. Special thanks to the artistic residency at Bałtycka Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej (Slupsk, Poland) where the artist stayed as a refugee and creating her works after the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

Olena Naumenko graduated from the Department of Painting of National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture (2005), Kyiv, Ukraine. She has been a member of National Union of Artists of Ukraine since 2008. Member of «Yod» art group. With the help of classical and modern techniques the artist works with different media and materials: magnet, metal, ceramics, painting, colored pencils, video. Her artistic practice is focused on rethinking classical painting and transformation of the Ukrainian school of painting.

After giving birth to her daughter, Olena Naumenko started working with the topic of motherhood and the role of a mother-artist in the modern society.

Olena Naumenko (Kyiv).
Uncertainty. Acrylic on canvas, 2022

To victory.
February 26, 2022
DANYLO MOVCHAN

WAR IN UKRAINE SERIES
DANYLO MOVCHAN

Danylo Movchan on his work:

War in Ukraine. Anxiety, pain, sadness, despair, crying, waiting... There are no colors on earth to convey this tragedy. Pain in the whole body cannot be described. Life at war brought great turmoil to my world. I started looking for ways to share it with people. I put off drawing icons.

There is no peace in my soul to continued sacred creativity. From February 26, I began to experience our new reality in those works. Having done more than 70 works in the watercolor technique, I try to reveal in them all my feelings and thoughts that are related to the difficult days of the Russian invasion.

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Mourning.
February 27, 2022
DANYLO MOVCHAN

Struggle.
February 28, 2022
DANYLO MOVCHAN

End of Evil.
March 3, 2022
DANYLO MOVCHAN

Destruction.
April 18, 2022
DANYLO MOVCHAN

Charon.
May 13, 2022
DANYLO MOVCHAN

WAR IN UKRAINE SERIES
DANYLO MOVCHAN

In his career before the Russian invasion, Danylo Movchan focused on contemporary rethinking of traditional Ukrainian orthodox icon painting. He studied at the Lviv College of Decorative Arts and later graduated from the Lviv National Academy of Arts. His works can be found in churches and private collections in Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Canada, France, Italy, Finland, and the USA.

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Danylo Movchan (Lyiv), 1979-present
War in Ukraine. Watercolor series on paper, February-June 2022

WAR PHOTOGRAPHY (1)
EFREM LUKATSKY

WAR PHOTOGRAPHY (1)
EFREM LUKATSKY

Elderly residents hide in a basement for shelter, with no electricity, water, or food in the center of the town of Irpin, some 25km (16 miles) northwest of Kyiv Friday, March 11, 2022. Kyiv northwest suburbs such as Irpin and Bucha have been enduring Russian shellfire and bombardments for over a week.

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WAR PHOTOGRAPHY (2)
EFREM LUKATSKY

Ukrainian soldiers Anastasia and Vyacheslav share a tender moment prior to their wedding ceremony in a city park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 7, 2022.

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WAR PHOTOGRAPHY (2)
EFREM LUKATSKY

WAR PHOTOGRAPHY (3)
EFREM LUKATSKY

Red roses are seen against the background of a city theatre ruined in the Russian shelling in Lysychansk, Luhansk region, Ukraine, Thursday, June 16, 2022.

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WAR PHOTOGRAPHY (3)
EFREM LUKATSKY

WAR PHOTOGRAPHY (4)
EFREM LUKATSKY

An elderly woman evacuated from the war hit area sits inside an evacuation train waiting for departure while a soldier passes by her in Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine, Monday, June 20, 2022.

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WAR PHOTOGRAPHY (4)
EFREM LUKATSKY

WAR PHOTOGRAPHY (5)
EFREM LUKATSKY

A woman, who did not want to be identified, poses for a photograph as she holds her newborn girl in the basement of a maternity hospital converted into a medical ward and used as a bomb shelter during air raid alerts, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Russian forces have escalated their attacks on crowded cities in what Ukraine's leader called a blatant campaign of terror.

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WAR PHOTOGRAPHY (5)
EFREM LUKATSKY

WAR PHOTOGRAPHY (6)
EFREM LUKATSKY

Men wearing protective gear carry a dead body during the exhumation of killed civilians in Bucha, outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, April 8, 2022. The National Police are reportedly investigating the killings of more than 12,000 Ukrainians nationawide from the war Russia is waging.

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WAR PHOTOGRAPHY (6)
EFREM LUKATSKY

WAR PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES
EFREM LUKATSKY

Artist and Associated Press photojournalist Efrem Lukatsy has worked in areas of political unrest for three decades. Lukatsky's photographs have been published by Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, and The Guardian. In 2005, Lukatsky became the only finalist in the history of modern Ukraine for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. Today, Efrem Lukatsky documents the Russian invasion into his homeland of Ukraine and spends most of his time on the frontline.

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Efrem Lukatsky (Kyiv), 1956-present
War photography. February-May 2022 

KATERYNA HRYSHCHENKO
CITIZENS OF KYIV.
ALEXANDER CHEKMENEV

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A sous chef and server at a Pizza Sushi 33 restaurant until late February, Kateryna Hryshchenko, 23, was also a champion bodybuilder and former basketball point guard. She reported to a military recruitment center a little more than 12 hours after Russia invaded, delayed only because she could not immediately find her passport. By 10 p.m., she was a soldier in the Territorial Defense Forces.

"In the first days, my duties were the same as the guys' duties," she said. "I dug trenches and carried sandbags." Next, she was involved in logistics, including organizing meals for soldiers and trying to procure ballistic vests and thermal imaging devices, an effort frustrated by the scarcity of such equipment in Kyiv. Three weeks into the war, Hryshchenko had told few people of her athletic background. "The majority of the boys do not know about my past," she said. She expected the next months to be an ordeal. "I don't know what will happen. The circle is closing, and our people and cities are gradually dying."

Text by C.J. Chivers© The New York Times

KATERYNA HRYSHCHENKO
ALEXANDER CHEKMENEV

LIUDMYLA DIACHENKO
CITIZENS OF KYIV.
ALEXANDER CHEKMENEV

LIUDMYLA DIACHENKO
ALEXANDER CHEKMENEV

Until the invasion, Liudmyla Diachenko, 74 commuted each day to her job outside the capital at Multivac, a manufacturer of industrial, consumer, and medical packaging machines. Now, she and her husband retrace the short journey between their apartment in Kyiv and the bomb shelter in the subway station nearby. Her husband taped their windowpanes so that glass would be less likely to shatter and fly through the rooms in the event of an explosion outside. (During the bombardment's second week, a rocket or missile landed about 50 meters from her apartment. It was a dud.)

With no job to occupy her, Diachenko has tried bringing order and control to the days by filling time with ordinary tasks.Distraction has provided little relief. "I try to do something – maybe cook something, maybe clean something. It's very very hard." The world, she said, must somehow understand. "We are good people," she said. "We need to explain this to others. We have not done anything wrong."

Text by C.J. Chivers© The New York Times

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RUSTAM GUSEINOV
CITIZENS OF KYIV.
ALEXANDER CHEKMENEV

RUSTAM GUSEINOV
ALEXANDER CHEKMENEV

Rustam Guseinov, 57, a resident of Odesa since 1993, was working in the building trades in Kyiv when the invasion began. He turned up in a food kitchen for a meal and did not leave. "I came here to eat, and I just said, "I should help," he said. A former solider in the Soviet Army, Guseinov fought in Afghanistan in the 1980s as a reconnaissance scout in the country's northern and western provinces, including from a small outpost near Herat His experiences as a soldier bother softened his views and hardened his demeanor. "I am generally against any war," he said.

To Guseinov, the shelling of Kyiv feels familiar, an echo of his youth. "When I was in Afghanistan, it happened three times a day," he said. He suggested that with rockets and missiles landing randomly, staying home was not safer than being on the streets. He opted to work alongside other volunteers to be part of Kyiv's defense. At the field kitchen, he has been making sweet kompot, a treat to be served to those who remain.

Text by C.J. Chivers© The New York Times

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MAKSYM PAVLIUK AND LIUBOV TYMCHENKO
CITIZENS OF KYIV.
ALEXANDER CHEKMENEV

MAKSYM PAVLIUK AND
LIUBOV TYMCHENKO
ALEXANDER CHEKMENEV

Liubov Tymchenko, 17, moved into an underground subway station with her boyfriend, Maksym Pavliuk, 20, and her cat, Murysia ("the purrer"), after the attacks on Kyiv started. A student in a school for hairstylists, Tymchenki spent about 18 hours a day on the platform, returning outside about six hours a day to check on her home and charge her mobile phone. She and Pavliuk were sustained by volunteers – "today they fed us hot dogs," she said – and took turns using the station's small bathrooms.

About 60 people lived underground in this station full time, she said, roughly half on the platform and the remainder in subway cars. When shelling or air-raid warnings sounded, the station often filled up, she said, and could become standing room only. Her fear was acute and disorienting; she was traumatized. "I am a sensitive person, and I become hysterical." (Tymchenki relocated to Poland on March 17.)

Text by C.J. Chivers© The New York Times

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CITIZENS OF KYIV SERIES
ALEXANDER CHEKMENEV

Weeks after Russian President Vladmir Putin commanded the invasion of Ukraine, the capital city of Kyiv became a shell of its vibrant self. An estimated half of Kyiv's population fled as homes, hospitals, and infrastructure were destroyed. Through the danger and chaos, photographer Alexander Chekmenev captured the resilience, dignity, and humanity of his fellow Ukrainians.

Chekmenev began his career as a photographer in the 1990s, documenting the economic and social crisis in Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR. In 2011, he released Donbas, a photo series exploring life in Eastern Ukraine. His photos have been printed in major publications including the New York Times, Time Magazine, The New Yorker Photo Booth, and The Guardian. He was awarded the Grand Prix Photographer of the Year of Ukraine 2013. In 2022, Chekmenev shot three covers of Time Magazine featuring Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenkska, and top Ukrainian media manager Olga Rudenko.

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Alexander Chekmenev (Luhansk-Kyiv), 1969-present
Citizens of Kyiv. Color photography, February-March 2022

War Diary Series (1)
KINDER ALBUM

War Diary Series (2)
KINDER ALBUM

War Diary Series (3)
KINDER ALBUM

War Diary Series (4)
KINDER ALBUM

War Diary Series (5)
KINDER ALBUM

War Diary Series (6)
KINDER ALBUM

War Diary Series (7)
KINDER ALBUM

War Diary Series (8)
KINDER ALBUM

WAR DIARY SERIES
KINDER ALBUM

Kinder Album (Children's Album in German) is an anonymous artist living in Lviv, Ukraine. The Kinder Album art project first appeared on social networks in 2012. It's distinct feature is explicit photographs and drawings performed in a childlike manner, eliciting her pseudonym. Kinder Album is an active participant in group and solo exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad.

The day Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, Kinder Album, the pseudonym of an artist from the west of Ukraine, vowed never to leave her country. "I didn't want to read about the war in. the news," she said, "I felt it was important to stay and feel all these events. I wanted to actually experience them. The whole atmosphere of fear, of shelters and threats, of bombings, helped me to make war art. "Because now I need to draw, I don't have time to think, I need to express the feelings of the moment, because tomorrow something else will happen. Before the war, I had a lot of time. Now I don't." 

Text Lorenzo Tondo, © The Guardian

Kinder Album (Lviv), unknown
War Album. Color photography, February-March 2022

WAR AND PEA€E
MARIA KULIKOVSKA

WAR AND PEA€E
MARIA KULIKOVSKA

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From Maria Kulikovska's diary:

8th of June was very hot. Angry summer sun was burning everything, reminding of the inevitability of the global warming catastrophe and reckless spending of Planet resources...

People tired of heavy work in the factory, came to the Azov Sea beach, In Mariupol, all industrial giants dump their waste, heavy metals, and poisons into the Azov Sea. All the time there is a strong smog above the city. On the other side of the sea, directly to the south-east, there is my home, occupied Crimea. On the east, in 20 kilometers, there is the war. "They" continue to shell this land every day. But people are tired of war and heat, they just want to relax on the beach... the beach full of mines, with soldiers all around, with armed people... It has been going on for two years already, so people no longer notice it, it has become normal, they are just tired, they are tolerant of death, of weapons, of violence, of war... now they are blond and asleep.

WAR AND PEA€E (CONT'D)
MARIA KULIKOVSKA

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From Maria Kulikovska's diary:

I looked to the east, and I heard the bomb blasts beyond the horizon. I was very scared, I felt weak in the knees. I fell to the ground and started screaming.

Yet my voice was so quiet compared to the children's laughter. The kids were swimming and playing on the mined land...

Then, I heard someone start to call the police and the psychiatric ambulance.

Some twelve minutes later, a few military men with Kalashnikovs appeared. They approached from the side where the war went on. They said I should immediately stop crying and screaming, otherwise they would open fire. They were clicking the shutters near my head... For a few seconds I stopped, thinking that I had been suffering for so long, I was ready to die.

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From Maria Kulikovska's diary:

I got up and left. One woman said that she was tired and could not cry anymore, so she wanted to have fun. She was drinking vodka and offered it to me.

One boy told me that he believed in anarchy, just like me, and in truth, in peace, without wars and inequality, in freedom and respect.

I jumped into the car of a person from the TU art center, who invited me to come to this city. On my way to the hotel, I had seen several police cars and ambulances. People on the beach called the ambulance and policy – it was no joke...

©Maria Kulikovska. Written in exile in May 2019, Stockholm, Sweden – 3035 km away from the mined beach. Three years after the performance. 

WAR AND PEA€E (CONT'D)
MARIA KULIKOVSKA

WAR AND PEA€E (2)
MARIA KULIKOVSKA

WAR AND PEA€E
MARIA KULIKOVSKA

Maria Kulikovska, 1988-present (Crimea-Kyiv).
War and Pea€e, Performance documentation, photo, 2016 Photos by Sehii Vaganov, with support of the Art Center "TU" and Diana Berg. Olga Lebedeva took part in the performance.

Maria Kulikovska studied at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, Kyiv and at the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, before becoming a painter, architect, performer, researcher, and curator. Her works and performances have been presented throughout Europe. She is a winner and finalist of international competitions and well-known for her 2014 performance wearing a Ukrainian flag at the Saint Petersburg's Manifesta to protest Russia's annexation of Crimea.

She also performed Raft Crimea, rafting along the Dnirpo River without food supplies to draw attention to the people who were left without home and homeland after the annexation of Crimea. In 2015, she established The Flowers of Democracy, a feminist art collective and a platform for cooperation. In spring 2017, she founded a non-governmental international cultural platform called the School of Political Performance.

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WAR AND PUNISHMENT
IGOR GUSEV

RUSSIAN WARSHIP
IGOR GUSEV

ODESA 2022
IGOR GUSEV

ATM
IGOR GUSEV

RUSSIANS ARE COMING
IGOR GUSEV

MATRIX
IGOR GUSEV

SERIES 3 WORLD WAR
IGOR GUSEV

Igor Gusev is a painter, poet, author of performances, films, objects and installations, leader of the movement "Art Raiders," and founder of the underground gallery "Norma."

Before the Russian invasion, the Odesa-born artist achieved considerable success at home and abroad with his haunting, dreamlike paintings. The invasion led to a new turn in Gusev's art, and a fairy tale figured in a drawing he published on Facebook on the the first day of the invasion – the first work in what he calls "Series 3 Word War 2022." In one of the series, Lenin's tomb is walking on chicken legs dripping blood with "the Russians are coming" beneath the image: a mummified past approaching, reminiscent of Slavic folklore villain Baba Yaga. Some of Gusev's works have been displayed at Odesa's central Book Market, which has become a popular meeting spot – a venue for jazz concerts and theater performances – as the city seeks to come back to life after the initial shock caused by war, despite continued attacks.

Igor Gusev (Odesa), 1975-present
Series 3 World War. Mixed media on book covers and art reproductions, 2022.

FROM EVERY TEARDROP A BULLET WITH BE CAST
OLEKSIY SAY

TOLSTOYEVSKY
OLEKSIY SAY

FROM EVERY TEARDROP A BULLET WILL BE CAST + TOLSTOYEVSKY
OLEKSIY SAY

Oleksiy Say graduated from the Kyiv Art and Industrial Technical School and the Ukrainian Academy of Art and Architecture. In the early 2000s, the artist founded his original method of "drawing pictures" in Microsoft Office Excel. This Technique, where each fragment of an image is a mathematical formula, became the basis for a long-lasting Excel Art project, Subsequently, the artist used elements of office life in his installations. His works are in the collections of the auction house of Phillips de Pury, ArtCurial, and private collections in Western and eastern Europe.

The posters in display in the exhibition were created by Say after the Russian invasion and quickly gained attention through social media. "Tolstoyevsky" is an artistic remark on the weaponization of culture by contemporary Russia, and the hypocrisy of Russian leaders espousing the values of "the great Russian culture" while devastating largely Russian speaking regions in the east and south of Ukraine.

Olesksiy Say (Kyiv), 1975-present
From Every Teardrop a Bullet Will be Cast
Tolstoyevsky
Digital prints, Spring 2022

THEORY OF PROTECTION
DARYA KOLTSOVA

THEORY OF PROTECTION
DARYA KOLTSOVA

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Darya Koltsova on her work:

All over my country people are taping their windows to protect glass from shattering by explosion. Russian can start bombing at any moment. I'm getting constant air alert warning messages on my phone. I'm in a safe place now, but I keep these notifications on because of my family, friends, relatives, and half of my heart are there: in Kharkiv where I was born, in Kyiv where I've lived for 8 years, in Odessa where I moved 2 years ago... bombs are falling from the sky. I used to read about it in old books and could never imagine it happening to my homeland, I still can't believe. These patterns on windows could be beautiful, but unfortunately, they are not decorations. We are taping windows to protect our bodies and sometimes even our lives.

THEORY OF PROTECTION
DARYA KOLTSOVA

THEORY OF PROTECTION (CONT'D)
DARYA KOLTSOVA

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Darya Koltsova on her work:

I started this art project in 2015 when I noticed such ornaments in occupied Donbas. I was attracted by the people's ability to create while facing a deadly danger. And thus "Theory of protection" was born. In 2016 I was invited to exhibit the installation in Moscow by Nadim Samman, a brave curator. He proposed to tape all the windows of the huge former factory where the Biennale he curated took place. Non of us knew whether we could do that. I could have been imprisoned or just made to disappear for talking about the Russian war in Ukraine. I was very scared to go there with a message that THE WAR IS CLOSE, that the war existed even if they did everything to ignore it, that it was a Russian war against my country. But I believed that I had to try. And we did it. And viewers got the message. And that's the power of art. Now. I have decided to continue the project to show how close the war is and how peace is fragile.

THEORY OF PROTECTION
DARYA KOLTSOVA

Darya Koltsova's work includes installations, performances, and videos that combine the political and the personal. Her work distills geo-political strife to the intimate perceptions of those at risk. Since the annexation of Crimea by Russia, and the war in the Donbas in 2014, Koltsova has focused on the effects of the war and questioning the possibilities of protections and resiliencies.

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Darya Koltsova (Kharkiv-Odesa), 1987-present
Theory of Protection. Site-specific installation, 2022

THANK YOU FOR VIEWING THE BEAST OF WAR, BIRD OF HOPE VIRTUAL EXHIBIT.

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE ARTISTS, PERSONAL COLLECTORS, AND OUR CURATOR, ALISA LOZHKINA. 

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