Voices from Ukraine. Landscapes

The Landscapes exhibition is part of the Voices from Ukraine project. Alongside its two sister shows—in Lublin’s Labirynt and BWA Zielona Góra galleries—it presents Ukrainian artists’ creative attitudes towards the Russian invasion. It is not a coincidence that the exhibition is showcased in the BWA Wrocław Główny gallery, a venue within the city’s main train station building. It was where people fleeing the war in Ukraine found shelter after the full-scale invasion.

Katya Buchatska, a Ukrainian artist who uses paints containing soil collected at Russian-occupied territories, says that the war has awakened a new sensitivity within us, making us aware of and affected by the pain of our environment. Yet, you will hardly find any human figures in the featured artworks. Exploring the relationship between nature and humans as the show does, it depicts the latter as a mere shadow or element of scenery. Marta Gendera, the exhibition curator, echoing the words of another artist, Kateryna Aliinyk, explains that, in addition to emotions, the eponymous landscapes convey hope for the rebirth of the country and ideas on how to memorialize what has been lost.

Landscape is not just space.

It is a participant, a witness and a carrier of emotions.

Kateryna Aliinyk

The exhibition is divided in two parts. The first one focuses on the artists’ research into how the Russian invasion has reshaped the landscape and on the atrocities it has inflicted upon scenery. Using their artistic tools, the artists document acts of ecocide—such as the aftermath of the Russians destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam and power station in 2023. They trace the roots of this environmental violence back to the Soviet era, when the intense industrialization of eastern Ukraine transformed the steppes into industrial zones and led to the regulation of the Dnieper River. The artists make herbariums and use microscopes to examine mosses and lichens native to the seized lands.

The second part is dedicated to the feeling of solastalgia—the emotional distress caused by environment degradation. The works in this section emanate a deep longing for nature, which is currently being mined, bombed, and devastated. At the same time, by invoking national traditions and notions of Ukrainian identity, the artists build hope for the future. The natural environment as they see it is not merely a witness or victim of the war. Vegetation can recover, adapt to new conditions, and even evolve against the odds. The exhibition conveys a reflection on future recovery and war memorials—of which nature will inevitably become a part.

A key element is a map of Ukraine marking seized and reclaimed territories—places that serve as sources of inspiration or reference in the artists’ works. The narrative of destruction and rebirth is echoed in exhibition design through the use of traditional wood-burning techniques as a method of preservation. Fire is presented not only as a symbol of destructive force but also a means of tempering ecosystems.

The exhibition features thirteen Ukrainian artists. In addition to working with the traditional media—painting, drawing, photography, and video—they also explore new forms of expression, incorporate scientific research methods, and engage in formal experimentation.

Co-financed by the Minister for Culture and National Heritage from the Cultural Promotion Fund – a state special-purpose fund.