UKRAINIAN
ECOLOGIES

The Naked Room Gallery, 2024
Kyiv, Ukraine

The result of Residency Ukrainian Ecologies by the Ukrainian Environmental Humanities Network and the Izolyatsia Foundation.

Curators: Dmytro Chepurnyi,
Oleksandra Pohrebniak

“Ukrainian Ecologies” exhibition follows the eponymous art residency and features works by its participants: Karina Synytsia, Daryna Mamaisur, and Yana Kononova. The exhibition is the result of the artists’ collaboration with scientific institutions and independent researchers in the field of ecology.

Photo by
Dmytro Chepurnyi

The project explores how art reflects the state of the environment in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Artists delve into the dynamic nature of the landscape, memory, ecological grief, and the interaction between human and other-than-human worlds. Both the exhibition and the residency support contemporary artists working in various media (painting, photography, video) across specific locations: the city of Kharkiv, the Ros River basin in the Kyiv region, and between Kherson/Ivano-Frankivsk. The exhibition is the result of the artists' collaboration with scientific institutions and independent researchers in the field of ecology. The project explores how art reflects the state of the environment in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Artists delve into the dynamic nature of the landscape, memory, ecological grief, and the interaction between human and other-than-human worlds. Both the exhibition and the residency support contemporary artists working in various media (painting, photography, video) across specific locations: the city of Kharkiv, the Ros River basin in the Kyiv region, and between Kherson/Ivano-Frankivsk.

"Kazka"
acrylic, paper

KAZKA

In this work Karina draws parallels between the work of Ukrainian entomologist Lev Shelyuzhko during World War II and the destruction of the National Plant Genetic Resources Center in Kharkiv in 2022, during the Russian invasion. She blends reality with fiction using a semi-fantastical style to explore themes of memory, loss, and the interconnectedness of nature and human history. In Kazka, museum artefacts gain sensitivity and become observers of political upheaval.

Butterflies from Shelyuzhko’s collection and plants from the Kharkiv Genetic Bank tell their stories of traveling through war-ravaged landscapes. They become unintended guardians of cultural and scientific memory, persisting despite the destruction around them. This work was created following Karina’s expedition to the Institute of Plant Breeding in Kharkiv, where she explored the aftermath of the destruction of the Plant Genetic Resources Center to better understand the importance of preserving such collections in the context of war.

"Water Body"
acrylic, photo wallpaper

WATER BODY

Water Body continues the painting series Welcome to Paradise, which explores the contrast between media images of an idealised paradise and the reality of war and destruction. The project uses photo wallpapers, popular in post-Soviet interiors of the 2000s, to visually express this dissonance.

Painting elements of destruction and hopelessness over the wallpaper, Karina shows how bright, utopian images transform under the influence of war. The destruction of idyllic scenes becomes a metaphor for the loss and pain encountered in everyday life. In her work, Karina focuses on the water bodies that suffer serious negative environmental consequences due to war. They become part of the narrative of the photo wallpaper, highlighting the connection between human and other-than-human war losses.

Photo by Dmytro Chepurnyi,
Karina Synytsia

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