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Creating Resistance by Engaging Destruction: Three Contemporary Feminist Artists from Ukraine
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- Author / Creator
- Somchynsky, Kalyna
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Destruction and production are two closely linked phenomenon within contemporary feminist art in Ukraine. Ukraine is currently embroiled in a context marked by destruction in the form of the annexation of Crimea and war in the Eastern Donbas region, along with the physical and emotional trauma accompanying these events. Feminist artists are addressing this context in innovative ways, resisting growing nationalism, militarism, and the polarization of various segments of Ukrainian society. In the 2010s, artists began openly proclaiming themselves as feminists to address such issues as the representation and visibility of the female body, motherhood, sexuality, abortion, LGBTQIA+ rights, and labour. Concurrently, as these artworks emerged within public spaces in the streets of Ukraine, they were also the targets of attacks by conservative and far-right groups that destroyed the works through various means.
I analyze three artworks that have been destroyed, address destruction, and incorporate destruction as an artistic technique. These artworks are Maria Kulikovska’s video performance Let Me Say: It’s Not Forgotten (2019), Dana Kavelina’s banner created for the March 8th demonstrations in 2019, and Valentyna Petrova’s tapestry and performance-based work Self-Portrait (2017). My analyses are based on four interviews I conducted in Ukraine over three weeks in the summer of 2019 with artists Maria Kulikovska and Oksana Briukhovetska, art historian Oleksandra Kushchenko, and activist Marta Bonyk from the organization The Feminist Workshop (Феміністична Майстерня), and my experiences attending exhibitions and exploring Kyiv and L’viv. I have supplemented my interviews and observations with primary sources in the form of interviews published by other artists, curators, and academics, exhibition catalogs, and reviews. My research is informed by my training in visual culture, the history of art in Ukraine, and feminist discourses within the post-Soviet space. I argue that artists who incorporate destruction within their artistic practise channel the energy from Ukraine’s turbulent context in order to propose alternative possibilities for the present and future based on empathy, empowerment, and solidarity. -
- Subjects / Keywords
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2020
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Master of Arts
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- License
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