Alena Grom War and Peace?

Where: Galeria Labirynt, ks.J. Popiełuszki 5, Lublin
Exhibition opening: 14/09/2024 at 18:00
Exhibition on display: until 13/10/2024 (Tue-Sun 12:00-19:00)Language: opening in Polish; translation into Ukrainian, translator: Volodymyr Dyshlevuk. No translation into Polish sign language or English.
Admission: PLN 8, PLN 4 concession (free for the opening)

Curator: Gabriela Gawęda

The War and Peace? exhibition features the work of Ukrainian artist and photographer Alena Grom at Galeria Labirynt. Grom is the current resident of the Lublin Station programme, organized by Galeria Labirynt in collaboration with Artsvit Gallery (Dnipro, Ukraine).

Grom works at the intersection of conceptual photography and social reportage. In her work, she employs a variety of artistic approaches: from reportage to association play, video, collages, using photographs and other people’s archives. These methods help her convey ideas and emotions more profoundly.

The title of the exhibition comes from the book War and Peace which Grom found in 2014, near the ruins of one of the schools in the Kharkiv region that fell victim to Russian bombs. War and Peace? presents works from two projects: Generation and The Banality of Evil – along with two video projections.

In her Generation project, Alena Grom documents the daily lives of young people who survived the occupation in the Kharkiv region in 2014. During hostilities, infrastructure and residential buildings were destroyed and thousands of people, including children, were injured or killed. These children are not only victims, but also witnesses to the crimes and tragedies that continue to unfold around them.

Meanwhile, in the project The Banality of Evil, Alena Grom shows Bucha in March 2022, which has become a site of mass murder of civilians. Grom documented the crimes committed by the Russian military stationed in the area. The photos do not show residents or soldiers, only what is left in Bucha. The project’s name is drawn from the essay of the same title by Hannah Arendt. The concept of evil, as Arendt defined it, helps to better understand the complexity of human nature and that evil can manifest itself in the daily routine activities of people who perform their duties without reflecting on the moral consequences of their actions.

Alena Grom’s photographs and video works encourage the beholder to reflect on how anyone can unwittingly become a part of a machine of evil when we look unreflectively at the reality around us. War and Peace? exhibition encourages us to ponder our contemporary world, the responsibility for our actions and hope for recovery in times of crisis.

Alena Grom is a Ukrainian artist and documentary photographer originally from Donetsk. She works at the intersection of conceptual photography and social reportage. In April 2014, she left her hometown due to the Russian occupation of eastern Ukraine, which greatly influenced her artistic direction. One of the main themes of her work is life in spite of everything. Since 2016, she has focused on people and places affected by Russian aggression. Since 2017, she has been living in Bucha. Alena Grom’s projects have been exhibited in Ukraine, the USA, various locations in Australia, Europe and Asia. Her work has been honoured with many international photography awards and prizes.

Accessibility: The exhibition is held on the ground floor. The bookstore offers free rental of noise-canceling earmuffs and a wheelchair. Silent hours at the exhibition apply on Wednesdays from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. The gallery has 6 portable induction loops.

Exhibition within the framework of the project “Galeria Labirynt – from a gallery of paintings to a gallery for people”.

Subsidized by funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage within the framework of the National Cultural Center program: Culture-Interventions. Edition 2024