Violetta Oliinyk – BROTHERS / БРАТИ

Separation from loved ones, fear and loneliness – this is the reality experienced by Ukrainians since the outbreak of full-scale war. Although time passes and the information overload seems to die down once in a while, the suffering does not diminish and families (unfortunately often forever) are broken up.

War can be talked about in different ways. Violetta Oliinyk expresses her experiences performatively: she weaves shirts with her own hands from previously picked nettles. She based her action on ancient legends, which say that a sister must silently and unsmilingly sew shirts from field plants, and that when her brothers put them on, the curse will be broken. This action symbolically makes us realise how many people – relatives, friends, sisters and brothers – are waiting for the curse of war to be broken, so that everyone can happily return home.

In addition to the hand-woven shirt and the video-documentation created during the three-day performance, the exhibition also features a photographic installation in which the artist has placed photographs of siblings who were separated as a result of the war. Most of them show childhood times, full of good emotions and attachment – now, when fear for the future freezes the heart, it is time to realise how important it is to cherish every second spent together.

The entire message is complemented by Zhanna Kadyrova’s work entitled “Palianytsia”. This is a type of bread made in Ukraine. Russian saboteurs and agents cannot pronounce its name well, so by such a simple thing Ukrainians are able to distinguish friend from foe. In a time of war, when electricity is cut off and communication with the world disappears, such a basic thing as bread becomes something that many people have to search for in hardship.

We encourage people who are experiencing separation from their loved ones to suplement the installation and add their photographs as a gesture of solidarity.

Exhibition opening: 27/09/2023 (Wednesday), 7:00 p.m.
Where: Galeria Labirynt 2, ul. Grodzka 3, Lublin
Accessibility: The exhibition is held in a space not accessible for people with motor impairments. No English interpretation of the opening.
Exhibition on display: until 22/10/2023 (Tuesday–Sunday, 3:00–7:00 p.m.)
Admission: free
Curator: Mateusz Wszelaki

Zhanna Kadyrova’s work “Palianytsia” is on display courtesy of the Bureau of Artistic Exhibitions Warsaw.

Violetta Oliinyk (b. 1995) is a Ukrainian artist, jeweller and performer. She graduated from the Lviv School of Art, majoring in art glass and stained glass, and from the College of Art and Design in Vyzhnytsia, majoring in jewellery.
In her work she explores the possibilities of the artist’s influence on society. The main areas of her work are performance, video, and jewellery.

In Chernivtsi, she conducted a series of performances aimed at awakening the memory of the city, a dialogue with its forgotten history by recreating places that no longer exist. In 2021, she received a Canada Council grant for a joint project with Taras Polataiko.

Since the beginning of the full-scale russian* invasion of Ukraine, Violetta has been making jewellery and organising auctions to raise funds for Ukrainian volunteers.

Her brothers and father are at war.

* The word “russian” is deliberately written in lower case, expressing the political decision of the authors of the text.