“Bodies on the Ground: Why Ukrainian Artists Turn to Landscape, Environment, and Earth”

“Bodies on the Ground: Why Ukrainian Artists Turn to Landscape, Environment, and Earth”. Guided tour of the “Cockaigne” exhibition with Ukrainian art researcher Kateryna Iakovlenko

8 November 2025 (Saturday), 12:00 p.m.
Arsenal Gallery power station
13 Elektryczna Street (entrance from Świętojańska Street), Białystok
free admission

Images of the Ukrainian landscape have become one of the most striking images to have attracted attention since the start of the full-scale invasion. But what are the land, landscape, and environment in the works of artists? But has the attitude towards this theme and this material changed with the outbreak of the war?

Kateryna Iakovlenko is a Ukrainian writer and curator who studies the impact of war on art and memory. Having a journalistic and research background in her practice, she transforms archival and documentary materials about the war into exhibitions, nonfiction essays, and librettos that offer new perspectives on understanding the traumatic experiences of war.

She worked as a program manager and curator of the Donbas Studios project at Izolyatsya (2014-2015) and as a researcher and curator of public programs at the PinchukArtCentre (2016-2021). Among her publications are the book “Why There Are Great Women Artists in Ukrainian Art” (2019) and co-editor of the special issue “Euphoria and Fatigue: Ukrainian Art and Society after 2014” in Obieg magazine (2019). Among the curatorial projects: “Everyone is afraid of the baker, but I thank you” (apartment exhibition, Irpin, 2022), “I dreamed of animals” (Labyrinth gallery, 2022-2023, together with Halyna Hleba), “Our years, our words, our losses, our searches, our us” (Jam Factory, 2023-2024, together with Natalia Matsenko and Borys Filonenko); “A few kilograms of exhibitions” (thestainstudio, 2024) and “Immersion in blu(r)e” (TBA gallery, 2025).

She is a co-curator of the Ukrainian part of the Secondary Archive project. Currently, she is the digital editor-in-chief of UPB Suspilne Culture.