Individual Formats. Ukrainians
painting / drawing / graphics
Eduard Belsky / Olesya Dzhurayeva / Vlodko Kaufman / Roman Romanyshyn / Vasyl Savchenko / Serhiy Savchenko / Veronika Cherednychenko
Opening: 15.06.2024 at 18:00
National Library al. Niepodległości 213 02-086 Warsaw
email: kontakt@bn.org.pl tel. (22) 608 29 99
Opening hours: Monday-Saturday 8:30-20:30
On June 15th, the Kosciuszko Foundation and the National Library organized the grand opening of an exhibition of contemporary Ukrainian art and a charity gala under the theme “Cultural Genocide: Ukraine’s Struggle to Preserve History and Identity,” under the honorary patronage of the Embassy of Ukraine in Poland and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. The aim was to express continuous commitment to supporting Ukrainian cultural institutions and promoting Ukrainian art.
The exhibition features 34 works by Serhiy Savchenko, Vasyl Savchenko, Vlodko Kaufman, Roman Romanyshyn, Veronika Cherednychenko, Eduard Belsky, and Olesya Dzhurayeva, prepared and delivered by the Savchenko Gallery, as well as six poems by Dmytro Lazutkin, Lyuba Yakimchuk, Hryhoriy Semenchuk, Kateryna Kalytko, Borys Humenyuk, and Yulia Musakovska. Lazutkin currently serves in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and Humenyuk went missing in 2022 during the Battle of Bakhmut.
The guests were welcomed by Dr. Tomasz Makowski, Director of the National Library, and Marek Skulimowski, President of the Kosciuszko Foundation, who emphasized the importance of continuous support for Ukraine in the protection of cultural heritage, libraries, and archives. Third Secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine in Poland, Vasyl Melnychuk, conveyed words of support and appreciation from His Excellency Vasyl Zvarych, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Poland.
The event was opened with a poignant excerpt from Tomasz Grzywaczewski’s film “Erase the Nation,” documenting Russian crimes against Ukraine’s cultural heritage. Tomasz Grzywaczewski also attended the gala.
Exhibition curator, Serhiy Savchenko, spoke about how the war has impacted the contemporary art scene in Ukraine from an artist’s perspective.
Following the speeches, there was a conversation with Lyuba Yakimchuk – writer, screenwriter, and cultural manager from Pervomaisk in the Luhansk region of Ukraine; Hryhoriy Semenchuk, poet, musician, and cultural manager from Khmelnytskyi in Ukraine; Kateryna Alekseenko – Deputy Director of the Lviv Public Library from Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine; and Iryna Biryukova, Director of the Odesa National Scientific Library, moderated by Mariya Hud. The discussion focused on art during wartime, artists on the front lines, and those who have perished in the war. It also addressed how life under occupation is worse than dying, and how people turn to books for a bit of peace in these terrible times of loss and despair.
After the official part of the event, conversations continued in the corridors, accompanied by live music performed by talented Polish artists – Joanna Kondrat, Marcin Olak, and Marcin Lamch.
The exhibition will be open to the public until July 5, 2024, at the National Library in Warsaw. It consists of two parts: one in the library’s lobby and another in the reading rooms.
Information from the official web site of National Library
Biblioteka Narodowa. foto Pawel Morawiec
works from the exhibition.
