Artist Talk – Ukraine Solidarity Residencies Programme 

Dates December 7th 2023
Opening hours 13:30 – 15:30
Location Villa Eläintarha, Eläintarhantie 14

Welcome to the public Artist Talk featuring Ukraine Solidarity Residencies Programme artists Kateryna Yehorova, Maryna Semenkova, Polina Choni, and Sergii Shaulis.

The artists present their art practice, topics and techniques they work with, as well as their experiences in Finland. 

 

More about the artists:

Kateryna Yehorova (currently in residence at Art Center Salmela) has a background in Design, she graduated from Odessa Art College in 2010 and Graphics, and from Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts in 2016. The main artistic method inherent in Kateryna’s works is magical realism. The expressive technique has been developed by the artist into a recognizable style. Kateryna’s works combine realistic plots with allegorical images, where the starting point is the artist’s own perception of the environment. Kateryna works mainly with gouache on paper and printing techniques.  

Maryna Semenkova (currently in residence at Nelimarkka Museum Residency) is a socially engaged multimedia artist and researcher from Odessa, Ukraine, who uses photography and performance as her main mediums. The main directions of her art practices are ecofeminism and collective memory. Maryna sees the war between the former Soviet Union members, Russian Federation and Ukraine, as a trigger that uncovered unreflected topics at the level of nations and states and considers as her task to raise these topics through visual constructions. The artist shows social phenomena through the prism of personal history. 

Polina Choni (currently in residence at AARK) is a visual artist with a background in the fashion and film industry. She was born in Kyiv, Ukraine. She received her master’s degree from Kyiv National University of Technology and Design in 2017.  She works with the topics of environment, sustainability, and biodiversity.  Nature is a source of inspiration and research for Polina, driving her exploration of the harmonious coexistence of humans with the environment. The main focus of her recent artworks is the ecological impact of the war in Ukraine. Her current practice reflects her commitment to raising awareness about ecocide consequences and advocating for a more sustainable future.

Sergii Shaulis (currently in residence at Värtsilä Artist Residency)is a Ukrainian artist and sculptor who combines traditional sculpting techniques such as metal casting and welding with modern 3D technologies. Relying on his personal experience and experiences of those around him, Sergii explores the internal states of a being human and looks for a form that would reflect the essence of the problem or symbolise the condition.  For Sergii, the prevailing topic of the past 9 years has been war. War comes through in different series of work that he returns to, creating new pieces. The series has no final count and remains open for  new pieces. This process happens in parallel with the artist’s life, his work lives and develops together with him. Sergii keeps the possibility to return, rethink, and introduce new forms and meanings to the existing series. This process is essentially endless and thus interesting to the artist.