THE TIES THAT BIND | Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak, U.S. Fulbright Scholar

THE TIES THAT BIND

Contemporary Narratives / Ukrainian Artists / Poznan
Gallery Duża Scena UAP, 24 Wodna Str.
Opening: 11.05.2023, 18:00
11-28.05.2023

Curator: Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak, U. S. FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR, Poland 2022-23

Artists: 

Andrii Dostliev 
Lia Dostlieva
Olena Matoshniuk
Andrii Merkhel 
Hanna Shumska
Vitalii Shupliak 
Angie Siveria
Olha Skliarska 

The exhibition features contemporary narrative art by eight Ukrainian artists with important ties to Poznan — their place of residence, work, exhibitions, education, family. Their artwork reflects their issues-oriented concerns as well as their ties to their cultural/ ancestral/ familial Ukrainian heritage and their current displacement from Ukraine.  

The artists are young, from a generation born around Ukraine’s 1991 declaration of sovereign independence. They did not live under the Soviet regime. They have had opportunities to study, research, travel, and discover their history in ways unavailable to their parents’ generation. They developed their Ukrainian identity through the momentous events of the 21st century. They came to Poland before the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine, to study, work, or pursue personal interests. 

Their particular experiences of pathos, of displacement, yearning, loss and adaptation, are evoked in their individual distinctive visual, verbal, and sound narratives.

Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak                                                                     U.S. Fulbright Scholar, Poland 2022-23

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Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak’s 2022-23 Fulbright Ukraine Scholar Program was re-
assigned to Poland, due to the war in Ukraine.  With the University of the Arts in
Poznan as her host institution, she has pursued a study of young contemporary
issues-oriented Ukrainian artists in Poland. 
From her frame of reference as an artist and educator, a Ukrainian-American, and a
child of World War II Ukrainian refugees, born and raised in the U.S.A., she examines
the Ukrainian artists’ personal and collective histories, their sources of inspiration,
and what role their Ukrainian identity plays in their creative endeavors. 

www.LydiaBodnarBalahutrak.com
https://fulbright.edu.pl/current-american-grantees/