Marharyta Zhurunova and Bohdan Lokatyr
Marharyta Zhurunova (born 1994, Vinnytsia) and Bohdan Lokatyr (born 1993, Lviv) are artists from Ukraine, who have worked as an artistic duo since 2015. They both studied at the Ukrainian Academy of Printing at the Department of Book and Easel Graphics, and graduated in 2018 with a Master's degree. Working with environmental art, installations, graphics, and artbooks, in their artistic practice they explore the mutual influence between human and landscape. In 2019 both artists became laureates of the President of Ukraine scholarships for young writers and artists, and received a grant from the President of Ukraine to create a book about Ukrainian mythology. They are the finalists of the competition of Contemporary Visual Arts named after Nathan Altman, Vinnytsia, Ukraine (2018), Second Biennale of Young Art, Kharkiv, Ukraine (2019), M17 Sculpture Prize: Roots and Pollen, M17 Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine (2020).
Remains
2023,
Paper, printing ink, wood, metal
War irreversibly affects those who have witnessed it. The visual images it generates remain in our subconsciousness, emerging from our memory even in times of imaginary peace. Thus, we perceive regular objects from our everyday lives in the light of our trauma, and they evoke a feeling of threat caused by a continuous stream of images documenting war crimes and scenes of violence. Marharyta Zhurunova and Bohdan Lokatyr created The Remains series while staying in the Carpathian mountains, with the help of Emergency Support Initiative. Back then, contemplation of peaceful, idyllic landscapes became evidence of how the optics of each of us had shifted forever: in the thick of the trees, in every branch and bend of the roots, in the outlines of the stones, the eye found images of fear: a spine, a bone, eyes, a skull, etc. At such moments, the landscape rapidly turned into a hostile environment, became disturbing and ominous, and any natural form seemed to be the remains of an inanimate body. The artists capture these images in graphic works and objects, transferring them to a safe exhibition space. But are we able to get rid of this obsessive delusion of imagination?
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October 8–November 12
Where Are We Now, After All Those Endlessly Repeated Words?
Curated by Petro Ryaska, Daria Shevtsova
