Anton Shebetko
Anton Shebetko is a Ukrainian artist, photographer, curator, and writer from Kyiv who currently lives in Amsterdam. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gerrit Rietveld Academie. His works focus on the issues facing the LGBTQ+ community in Ukraine, themes of memory, loss of identity, multiplicity of history, and the role that photography and archival materials can play in revealing these stories. Most of his research is devoted to the forgotten queer history of Ukraine; part of it was recently published in his book A Very Brief and Subjective Queer History of Ukraine'. His work has been exhibited at the FOAM Museum and Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Frei_raum Q21 Exhibition Space in Vienna, Austria; Photo Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland; CENTQUATRE-PARIS in Paris, France; BWA Studio in Wroclaw, Poland; Württembergischer Kunstverein in Stuttgart, Germany; and Mystetskyi Arsenal in Kyiv, Ukraine. He has given talks and lectures at Maastricht University, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, and Between Bridges Gallery. He was a recipient of the RM Residency Award and the Where Love Is Illegal Fellowship.
It's not your problem
2022,
neon
A red neon sign bounces between two contradictory statements: “It’s your problem” / “It’s not your problem”. The artist writes: “Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine took place on February 24, 2022. But in fact, the Russian-Ukrainian war began eight years earlier with the occupation of Crimea and the invasion of Donbas, which is often forgotten. Every war has irreversible consequences on many levels, primarily for human life. A war that takes place several thousand miles away seems alien. Distance affects the experience of war, attitudes toward it, and even awareness and interest. However, large-scale wars always have severe social, economic, and political consequences that are felt beyond the countries directly involved.” The work aims to draw attention to the fate of queer people in Ukraine and the choices they make during the war. As Shebetko notes: “Some flee to other countries, remaining traumatized but safe. Some take up arms and go to defend their country. Some, like me, stay outside of Ukraine for a longer period of time and start their mornings by checking to see if their loved ones back home are alive and safe.”
neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK), station urbaner kulturen/nGbK Hellersdorf, Between Bridges, Prater Galerie
February 23–June 9
Kyiv Perennial
We Were Here
2016,
Color photographs and video, 2’34’’
The photo series features veterans of the war in Donbas who belong to LGBTQI+ communities. It is based on a 2018 project that included Viktor Pylypenko, who subsequently founded a union for LGBTQI+ military personnel. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, the union had 130 members; today it already has 300, 100 of whom live their LGBTQI+ identities openly. Most of them are currently participating in combat operations. We Were Here draws attention to individuals whose militant commitment to Ukraine is ignored by most of their fellow citizens. They need to deploy camouflage techniques on two levels: not only as protection in combat, but also within a military and a society where LGBTQI+ identities are still taboo, rejected, and attacked. They have developed queer forms of camouflage for the photo shoot. In addition to the photo series, the project also consists of a video that includes excerpts from interviews with eight LGBTQI+ soldiers who neither show their faces nor, apart from Pylypenko, reveal their names. Their statements, which appear as subtitles, reflect contradictory experiences and positions. They accompany footage of an action in which bottles filled with colored liquids are thrown one after the other against a wall with a crash.
Augarten Contemporary, hoast, IG Architektur, Laurenz, Neuer Kunstverein Wien, Never At Home, Waffen Franz Kapfer, New Jörg, Ve.Sch
October 17–December 17
Main Exhibition
Curators: Serge Klymko, Hedwig Saxenhuber and Georg Schöllhammer
To Know Us Better
2022,
Slide projection with 53 color photographs, 4:24‘, 19 texts (handouts)
To Know Us Better is a photography project and exhibition by Anton Shebetko, celebrating queer Ukrainians who are living or temporarily staying in other countries in Europe. Their experience and hopes for a better future are documented in a series of portraits and heartfelt interviews.