Ukrainian Art History on Ukrainian Spaces pod

The latest episode of the Ukrainian Spaces podcast features Oksana Semenik as a guest. Oksana is a Ukrainian art historian and a journalist. She runs the Ukrainian Art History account on Twitter. Her mission is to decolonise Ukrainian art which is often mislabeled as Russian in museums and galleries around the world.

In this episode, she shares her personal story of surviving Russian occupation while hiding in a basement in Bucha and a 20 km escape on foot through a green corridor to Kyiv.

The conversation with Maksym and Valeria also explores different Ukrainian artists who are known in the West as russian, especially avantgarde painters such as Kazimir Malevych, Ilya Repin and Aleksandra Ekster. I looked up the names of these artists on Wikipedia. The articles refer to their Ukrainianess but the first line lists them as Russian which is clearly wrong.

Hosts and guest share their experiences of visiting exhibitions without realizing the artist is Ukrainian due to this not being mentioned in exhibition materials and talk about the importance of promoting and familiarizing yourself with Ukrainian art while russia destroys and steals it in an attempt to erase it.

It’s a fascinating conversation I recommend listening to especially if you enjoy art. It’s an open invitation to learn something new and wonderous. For me the cherry on the cake was a mention of Maria Prymachenko whose amazing beasts left a lasting impression.

Ginger Woman in a red dress is sitting holding a birdcage in her lap. The background is black and she is seen from a side. The painting is in a cubo-futurist style.

Woman with birds by Aleksandra Ekster