Artwork
「Predchuvstviye, Peredchuttya」 2015 Book, video [6:09]
「Legs of the Pietrowski statue (from the series ‘Daring&Youth’)」 2016 photo
「Smoke (from the series ‘Daring&Youth’)」 2017 photo
「Gold foil (from the series ‘Daring&Youth’)」 2017 photo
「Daring&Youth (from the series ‘Daring&Youth’)」 2017 photo
「Map of the Soviet Union (from the series ‘Daring&Youth’)」 2016 photo
「Bridge (from the series ‘Daring&Youth’)」 2017 photo
「The Palace of Youth (from the series ‘Daring&Youth’)」 2017 photo
「Secret Place (from the series ‘Presentiment’)」 2014 photo
「Crimea I (from the series ‘Presentiment’)」 2013 photo
「Crimea II (from the series ‘Presentiment’)」 2013 photo
「Crimea III (from the series ‘Presentiment’)」 2013 photo
「Crimea IV (from the series ‘Presentiment’)」 2013 photo
「Frozen tree during Maidan (from the series ‘Presentiment’)」 2014 photo
「Window (from the series ‘Presentiment’)」 2014 photo
「The Palace of Culture II (from the series ‘Daring&Youth’)」 2017 photo
「Untitled (from the the Vocabulary of Migration project)」 2021 photo
「Sunflower」 photo – “Sunflower” Solidary Community Center (Yulia Krivich, Taras Gembik)
「Crisis Kiosk」 2023 Mixed Media – “Sunflower” Solidary Community Center (Yulia Krivich, Taras Gembik), Marta Romankiv
Concept
「Predchuvstviye, Peredchuttya」
The book was created in 2015 and published by the Foundation for Visual Arts during Krakow Photomonth Festival, printed in 300 copies.
I come from Ukraine. In 2011, I moved to Poland.
In the Summers of 2013 and 2014, I went home—to my home country. It was just before Maidan, before the annexation of Crimea, before the war in Donbas. I had this strange feeling of duality back then. It was presentiment that something was about to happen, something was coming.
This is Crimea. This is the Black Sea.
It is a project about Ukraine but at the same time location plays a secondary role here because it is about feeling certain events. It seems to me that what happened in Ukraine in 2014, that is, the conflict that is still going on, influenced many different situations that later unfolded across Europe.
There was also the experience of my immigration. I had an acute sense of what it felt like to look for myself in another country, and so the sense of duality in Presentiment also directly relates to my lived experience.
At the same time, on a universal level, I was thinking about the double standards in which we all live. For example, the war in Donbas began in 2014 but for the first two years it was called the “Counter-Terrorist Operation.” This schizophrenia—this double reality—obviously hurt me more because it concerned me directly.
Maidan took place in various cities, not just in Kyiv. In Kyiv it was largest, and it marked the beginning and the end of the Revolution of Dignity. Protests took place in various cities. This is my hometown of Dnipro. The city council decided to defend itself from the protesters and brought boys in and gave them clubs to beat people. Water was poured on the courtyard in front of the city council building, making it an ice rink so that the protesters could not enter.
The entire book is built on such a fragile reality. When you hold it in your hand, you feel that it may fall apart. It is sewn with thread and has a sense of something raw, something unfinished. It has the form of a newspaper inserted into a hard cover.
I worked on the book together with book designer Ania Nałęcka-Milach. Ania helped me a lot in creating this unique book form, because I knew from the very beginning that the book could not be a catalog or have ordinary pages. What is happening with the book is a very important for me.
Same as this photo. At first glance, it appears to be a garbage dump, but this is the Maidan barricade in Kiev at night.
This scene shows a continuation of the protest in my hometown. As I mentioned, the city authorities used water. At -20°C [-4°F] water turned to ice in a few minutes, and we were directly splashed by water, but some perversely beautiful situation happened here.
It was also very important for me to use my native languages
「Sunflower」 – “Sunflower” Solidary Community Center (Yulia Krivich, Taras Gembik)
In solidarity with Ukraine, we, Marta Romankiv, Yulia Krivich, Asia Tsisar, Taras Gembik, Planeta, Kat Oleshko, Juliana Alimova, Nadia Snopek, invite everyone to plant sunflowers in their cities – in lawns, flowerbeds and parks, as well as other public places like the green patches in front of the embassies and on other main squares. We think of this as a global act of solidarity with Ukraine and our struggle for freedom and peace in Europe!
We also believe this is an act of resistance.
Let´s cover all the cities in the world with sunflowers this spring! Their bright colours will also cover the patches in front of each Russian embassy and will become a living monument to commemorate the victims of the devastating war Russia has waged against Ukraine.
Planting instructions:
Put two to three seeds about 5-8 cm deep into the soil, and please give each of those batches some space to grow (around 50 x 75 cm).
To be more certain that your sunflowers will grow, you can spread the seeds on a humid piece of cloth or bandage a week prior to the sowing. After that you need to choose the strongest of your seeds to plant. An ideal spot would have lots of sun and would be protected from strong winds.
If you want to encourage your sunflowers to grow, you can add some fertilizer containing potassium, boron and molybdenum. Sunflowers do enjoy water a lot, but please be a bit careful here: if the soil gets too much water your sunflowers might struggle to keep standing upright due to the softer ground, or their roots might begin to catch mold.
We will finally be able to greet our sunflowers from July through September!
On a side note: Sunflowers are a matter of interest for our local bees, who will also enjoy our flower´s nectar and pollen on their journeys through our neighborhoods.
We invite you to a joint sunflower meeting in front of the Russian Embassy!
This is our common struggle!
Initiators of the action: Yulia Krivich, Marta Romankiv, Asia Tsisar, Taras Gembik, Planeta, Kat Oleshko, Juliana Alimova, Nadia Snopek
Photos: Yulia Krivich
「Crisis Kiosk」- “Sunflower” Solidary Community Center (Yulia Krivich, Taras Gembik), Marta Romankiv
Crisis Kiosk is a reaction to the war that has been going on in Europe since 24 February 2022, as well as the global economic crisis. Times of crisis often allow us to see the importance of mutual support and grassroots – how much pieces of bread can be distributed while waiting for top-down help and systemic solutions. We want you to divide and share your survival recipes with us, too. You can contribute by writing down intergenerational stories on the steps of the Encouragement around food, community, and the often considerable creativity involved in survival.
We focus on the theme of solidarity, as well as the social and political changes brought about by the criminal Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the stories of both dependency and support that come from a colonised land connected by veins to the local inhabitants, but also to the rest of the world. Ukraine’s territory is renowned for its fertile soil and food resources, and the war in its territories is also a struggle for these
Profile
Visual artist, curator and activist, working with photography, public space combining with post-artistic approach. Graduated from the Department of Architecture of the State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture (2010) in Dnipro and from the Faculty of Media Arts of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (2013). She was one of the recipients of the Gaude Polonia Scholarship Program of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of Poland (2016), participant of the Pla(t)form at the Fotomuseum in Winterthur, Switzerland (2018) and nominated for the Pinchuk Art Center Prize for young artists in Ukraine (2018); recipient of the Solidarity Grant of Krytyka Polityczna (2020) as part of curatorial trio ZA*grupa; recipient of the Scholarship Program of Warsaw City in 2021. Nominated for Future Photography Platform for emerging artists in 2021, participant of WHW Akademija in Zagreb (2022).
In her work, she explores issues related to identity, combining elements of activism with collective practices. Her interests include topics related to Eastern Europe, migration and postcolonial theory. Lives in Warsaw, works at the Academy of Arts in Szczecin in the Photography and Postartistic Activities Studio. Since the full-scale Russian invasion on Ukraine, Yuliacoordinate and co-curate Solidarity Center of Culture “”Słonecznik”” (Sunflower) in Museum of Modern Arts in Warsaw.
Exhibition
Venue
Event
Sunflower Solidarity Community Center 《Emergency Kiosk》 Performance
Discover the truth and start decolonisation on Malanka Day with Ukrainian food and fortune-telling.
Dates: 1/28 Sat. 17.30-19.00
Performers: Sunflower Solidarity Community Center (Yulia Krivich, Taras Gembik)
Venue: 5F Senba Excel Building