Memorialization through modern art — exhibition “Against Oblivion”

Ukrainian society often disagrees when talking about memorialization or discussing its correctness. Not least because a full-scale war is still going on, and we can’t always work out concrete decisions about how it’s appropriate to remember someone or something. Therefore, the ethics of this or that memorialization remains under the vulture of questions, not answers.

However, the answers are preceded by many questions, which, in turn, need space to ask and voice them. This time it is Kyiv Dymchuk Gallerywhere modern Ukrainian artists share their options for memorialization and thoughts about memory – Katya Buchachka, Inga Levy and Natalia Lisova.

UP Culture tells how it is possible to build a gallery in a small space big talking about memory.

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A full-scale war highlighted that memory is actually everywhere. It is in the city space, in monuments and memorial plaques, in the national moment of silence, in institutions opened in honor of fallen heroes, in conversations about pre-war life. Materialized and emotional at the same time, it is designed to remind of important things, dispersing in various forms in everyday life.

Art in the conditions of historical upheavals usually takes on the role of proposing and creating various projects memory For Ukrainian artists, it turns out to be both a challenge and a way to open a public discussion, and an exploration of the space in which they are.

Artist’s practice Katya Buchatska and previously related to work with memory, particularly in her studies of heritage Parasky Plytky-Horytsvit or in the project “Pain Record”where the artist pondered how the museum shapes the historical narrative. This time at the exhibition “Against Oblivion” Katya presents a video at Dymchuk Gallery “Recording”. In it, the author finds herself on the edge of a funnel in the village of Moschun in the Kyiv region and thinks about the future memorials of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Katya Buchachka. Recording in progress, 2023. Video. 7′

Dymchuk Gallery

“In the process of thinking about a living memorial in Ukraine, I had questions, from sensible ones – about ways to remember events, about the essence of commemoration, about the flow of meanings of monuments – to more practical ones: how choose territory for projectwhich trees are suitable, whether it is possible according to the law, how trees affect the harvest, etc.”– says the artist in the description of the laboratory project “Land of return, land of care”.

One of the issues that Katya raises in her work is the selectivity of memory, because not everything that happened is recorded in the agenda. And so, how will we choose what will be important to us, what will we immortalize – what forms the framework of the discussion about memorialization.

To a certain extent, the monumentality of the usual materials is contrasted with Katya’s reflections that there are plants and nature in the space, and they can also be containers of memory. Mystkina leaves the question: “Perhaps we are not building a memorial to prevent the next time, but planting a garden so that we have something to lose.”.

Katya Buchachka. Recording is in progress, 2023. Video. 7′

Dymchuk Gallery

“Recording” becomes a reason to think about how much we can remember and how much we forget. And also about how a memory that is always with you can heal and give confidence.

For Inga Levyin contrast to Buchatska, the project “Ramp” turns out to be the first attempt to think about a possible memorialization. Mystkina shares that she did not dare to approach this topic for a long time.

“This time I approach the topic of memorialization from the perspective of urban space. I was interested in what it might lack, where it has problems”– explains Inga.

Inga Levi, Ramp, 2024 paper, glue, charcoal 45 x 85 cm

Dymchuk Gallery

It all started with the protest of KPI students in 2023. The initiative for the improvement of the district, in which the management of the institute participated, proposed to build a mural next to the non-inclusive square, and instead of honoring the memory of those who fought and are fighting against Russian aggression, the project distorted architectural heritage. Respect has been replaced by pathos, and attention to the needs of people with disabilities is a total misunderstanding of these needs.

Inga Levy creates an alternative project – about practical care, rather than monumental commemoration, which does not really encourage thinking about memory and its value. “I thought, if I see a problem with this, what can I offer? From that moment on, I decided that I would simply offer my, so to speak, unsolicited version. As an option to what memorialization might be now.”– adds Inga.

Inga Levy talks about anti-monumentalism and counter-monumentalismwhich appeared in opposition to glorification and pathos.

Inga Levy. Perspective drawing of a ramp from the Fixing project (Ramp), 2024. paper, charcoal, 200 x 250 cm

Dymchuk Gallery

“This approach was developed after the Holocaust, already in the 60s, when the world was faced with the need to memorialize the horror that happened during the Second World War. The monuments that glorified were absolutely not suitable, and everyone had to look for a new language. Yes, in fact, and this movement opposing monumentalism and pathos was formed monuments“.

Next to the charcoal drawing of the ramp, the artist adds a 3D model, which immediately transfers the proposed solution to the practical plane.

“This project asks whether it is appropriate to continue previous practices of memorialization? What is a tribute anyway? Is not concern for the needs of the people we want to honor more appropriatethan a mural that doesn’t really provide any support?”, – says Inga Levy.

Inga Levi, Ramp, 2024 paper, glue, charcoal 45 x 85 cm

Dymchuk Gallery

For her reflections on memory, the artist Natalia Lisova chooses graphic tools – charcoal, chalk, pastels.

“These are materials that are convenient and familiar to me, which can be used to quickly and accurately reflect the idea, which correspond to my way of thinking and perception of space and time. At first, these were sketches in an album format without a claim to eternity, and then the idea was transferred to a gallery format project “Against Oblivion”– adds Lisova.

The artist reinterprets an already existing landmark – Alley of Glory in Odessa. Like Inga Levy, she thinks about appropriate accents in honoring, and in her project Turns the Alley of Glory into the Alley of Memory.

Natalia Lisova, Alley of Glory – Alley of Memory, 2024 paper, charcoal, chalk, pastel 210 x 400 cm

Dymchuk Gallery

“I proposed to reform the memorial both visually, by removing all Soviet symbols, refreshing the decoration, and contextually: to generalize its historical background and connect the military past of Odessa with our present resistance in the Russian-Ukrainian war. This is the preservation of the war experience for posterity, the memory of people who gave their lives for the sake of our future, for the sake of today’s Ukraine”– explains Natalia.

The Soviet stele becomes a fountainwhich releases tears that move down the entire alley. A place that should have been a reminder of constant heroism turns into a space to reflect and honor, which legitimizes both what you can be proud of and what you miss.

The fact that memorialization is a collective matter and needs discussion is also proven by the fact that all the works in the exhibition were created during artistic laboratories and collaborations. Katya Buchachka addressed the curator of the memory culture platform “Past / Future / Art” Oksana Dovgopolovanature protection manager of the World Wildlife Fund WWF-Ukraine Olesya Petrovychproject manager of the “Forests” direction at the fund Hannah Lobchenko.

Curator for Inga’s work Grzegorz Klaman – a famous artist from Gdańsk. In addition, Polish commemoration practices proved helpful. In the same way, Natalia’s works are created within the limits “Laboratories of Memorialization Practices”whose curators were Olga Balashova, Oksana Dovgopolova, Kateryna Semenyuk and Julia Hnat.

“The fact that memorialization is a collective matter and needs discussion is also proved by the fact that all the works in the exhibition were created during artistic laboratories and collaborations”

Dymchuk Gallery

How much will our memory hold, and what will it miss? Is pathos necessary when you can create a place for care and memory? Are we really listening to the historical context of the spaces in which we live? How to make these spaces both inclusive for contemporaries and honoring those who are no longer there? You leave Dymchuk Gallery with such questions. The main thing is not to confuse them on the way. Memory gives pride and certainty, but also pain.