November 18, 2021 – December 28, 2021
Wiktoria Wojciechowska’s Sparks is an interdisciplinary project portraying the war in Donbas.
Created between winter 2014 and summer 2016 the project is centered around a series of portraits of young, regular people, coming from different backgrounds, who had to leave their lives and go to the frontline, become soldiers of war.
Sparks, presented in numerous exhibitions around the world, were mediating the conflict and the personal experience of the people involved in it, mostly without their intention, around the world. It has advocated the regular people’s suffering and trauma gained in the effect of this tragic war, to the international audiences and public opinion. Yet, it has never been presented in the Ukraine, to the people who took part in it and shared their personal stories. The exhibition at Lviv Art Center is the first public presentation of the Sparks in the Ukraine, an occasion to fill this gap and thank the participants for their generous involvement.
Seven years have passed since the project started and both the war and the portrayed soldiers are in a different place and situation in their lives. Having come back from the frontline they had to find themselves in civilian, everyday life. The exhibition at Lviv Art Center aims to underline the aftermath of the fighting experience in the lives of those who had to take the arms. The public programme will include not only artistic discussions and guided tours, but also events focused at the mental condition and psychological cost paid by the former soldiers.
The exhibition is a cooperation project between Lviv Art Center from the Ukraine and Krupa Gallery from Poland.
www.lvivart.center
www.krupagallery.pl
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Wiktoria Wojciechowska, The squad of nine killed and eight wounded, from the Golden collages series, 2015–2016, collage based on the picture from soldier’s mobile phone. -
Wiktoria Wojciechowska, Wiktoria_Wojciechowska – Andriy, 27, astronomy graduate. Picture was taken after he spent 9 months in the war zone, spring 2015 -
Wiktoria Wojciechowska Trenches, Hirs_ke, Donbass (war zone), Ukraine, spring 2015 -
Wiktoria Wojciechowska – Chawa, 32, philosophy graduate. Picture was taken after he spent 6 months in the war zone, 2014-15
Wiktoria Wojciechowska (b. 1991) lives in Paris and Lublin, works across photography, film, collage and sculpture. Her works refer to current events portraying society and individuals. Her practices are particularly focused on observation and understanding of human lives and stories through the rules of society and history. The projects are characterized by fragmentariness and non-linearity based on shreds of conversations, images, rituals and collected items.
Sparks completed between 2014 and 2016 received several international awards, including at the Festival Rencontres d’Arles 2018: Prix Madame Figaro and Public Choice Discovery Award. Work has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions, such as: Jimei X Arles festival, Xiamen, China; Krakow Photomonth, Poland; Museum of Photography in Riga, Latvia; Exhibition Bureau in Warsaw, Poland; Villa Perochon, Niort, France; La Filature, Mulhouse, France; MUCEM, Marseille, France; Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon.
Wiktoria Wojciechowska’s works are part of public and private collections, i.a. Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Grenoble Museum; Festival Rencontres de la photographie, Arles; Fondation François Schneider, Wattwiller; Fondation des Treilles, Paris; Polish Modern Art Foundation, Warsaw. Recently she was part of the Trouble in Paradise PROLOG+1 project for the Polish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale Architettura 2021, Italy.
http://www.wiktoriawojciechowska.com