“Looking for words” | Anastasia Mikhno, Irena Mykoliv – exhibition
About the event
“Looking for words” is a collaborative exhibition of two Ukrainian artists: Anastasia Mikhno and Irena Mykoliv. The former presents a series of photographs entitled ‘Kvity’, created after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014. The other shows her most recent work, MAK 450, which was inspired by her collaboration with a female war medic and psychologist who treats patients with PTSD. Both projects focus on interhuman communication in the context of war and trauma.
Anastasiia Mikhno created a series of photographs reflecting her desire for peace in response to the Russian aggression on Ukraine in 2014. In the photos, flowers fill the mouths of women, men and children. Is Kvity an expression of the artist’s naiveté? Does she believe that poetic words will persuade the enemy to retreat? Putting it differently: if not through words, language, and communication, how can we bring into existence the most significant, if discredited, slogan of our time contained in the short phrase “never again”?
Mykoliv earned her diploma from the Marie Curie-Skłodowska University’s Faculty of Arts in 2022 for an artistic but, at the same time, fully operational project created in collaboration with a Ukrainian war medic and psychologist. This project aimed to develop a series of illustrated cards that can be used to help patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. Patients were able to describe their experiences through the images based on the associations they made. With language unlocked, people could express what their heads could not contain. The artist can now draw on the knowledge she gained while working on her diploma in another project on language and war.
Visit the exhibition to see their works.
Details
Dates:
27 October 2022 (Thursday), 18.00 – opening
27 October 2022 – 30 November, Monday – Friday, between 10.00-17.00 – exhibition
Venue: workshops of Culture, Grodzka 7 – ground floor – entrance hallways
Admission free
The Mayor of Lublin has granted scholarship to Irena Mykoliv for the completion of her project.