“When the war started and till the end of August, I stayed in Ukraine. I was really close to the front line in the beginning. The main aim for me for the first two months was to help everyone who needed it, as much as I could. I didn’t think about art then, I felt responsibility as a citizen. To spread the word about the war by any means, to help informationally the many people volunteering and protecting our homeland (my friends that are either in the army or volunteering). My Instagram helped a lot in that: people found me there and I was able to be helpful giving interviews – I have written and spoken to many journalists, bloggers, TV channels and broadcasting platforms from all over the world about the true situations, the needs and my own war experience.
“From the beginning of April I switched to more material help: I started selling paintings, graphics and sculptures and even prints to collectors abroad, and part of raised money I gave to the army and to volunteers. At the beginning of summer 2022, I continued to work further on my new series Flowers or explosions, taking part in Ukrainian charity shows with it. At the moment I’m at the art residency in Dublin (since August 2022). I was lucky to pass the selection, and I am working on a series of self-portraits in yellow and blue, also thinking about future more ‘serious’ projects that will reflect the war.
“It’s so important tell about it abroad: when people hear your own experience, they can actually imagine the truth. It’s so important to work further now, not to be silent, though it’s really much harder then before to find that forces. I feel that every little action aimed to help Ukrainians contributes to our victory which is the only way for the future peace. I’m really grateful to all the amazing people that help, it gives us hope, helps to find strength.”
Alena Kuznetsova was born in 1986 and recently relocated to Ireland after leaving Kyiv because of the war. She graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the Kyiv National University of Building and Architecture, and she works using various media, but the main medium is painting.
She leads schools-workshops, for instance at the School of Contemplative Painting (Dornach, Switzerland), at the School of Contemporary Art at MARI and the School of Visual Communications and New Art School (Kyiv).
Kuznetsova has been actively exhibiting since 2008. She has had 12 solo shows in galleries and museums in Kyiv and many group projects in Ukraine and abroad (London, Berlin, Madrid, Krakow, Valencia). In 2019 and 2020 she was a finalist in the Objects Art Prize. She participated in the Bodensee Art Fair (Dornbirn, 2019) and the International Art Fair in Seoul (2018) and has a printed catalog of her works. Her art can be found in private collections in Ukraine, Germany, Great Britain, the USA, Switzerland, Spain and Italy.
In 2020 Alena returned to figurative painting and sculpture, after 13 years of working with color as an independent medium. As if the anticipation of war did not allow her to do something separate from reality.
At the forthcoming fundraiser exhibition at Gallerie Lorien, Kuznetsova will exhibit her series, Stripes.
Broad perspective // The Stripes: So many people have to move by car to other districts in Ukraine, as well as to another countries, change places, change their home. Broad Perspective is about movement, a process that puts you into trance, absorbs, and in general, a place that is missing: you seem to be “nowhere” during the movement. About a place whose symbolic content and meaning have changed in recent years for many people.
Visit Alena’s homepage to see the full series and more of her beautiful work: http://alenakuznetsova.com/
We look forward to seeing you next Friday!
FROM UKRAINE WITH LOVE Fundraiser
Exhibition Opening: 28 October 2023, 17:00-20:00
Duration: 28 October – 6 November
Location: Gallerie Lorien, Frydendalsvej 31, Frederiksberg
Gallerie Lorien, Special Exhibition Opening Hours
Monday – Tuesday: By appointment
Wednesday – Sunday: 11:00 – 18:00
