Kateryna Lysovenko: Paint Anyway

Бесстыжая земля не остаётся мертвой слишком долго.

Возмутительно, как деревья восстанавливаться и зеленеют после ковровых бомбардировок.

В городах, названным мертвыми, живут утраченные люди, они ищут воду и еду, гибнут  во время поисков. 

В поэзии, религиозных текстах небо темнеет, когда происходит большое зло, солнце не встаёт, птицы умолкают, но по эту сторону текстов нет такого зла, после которого солнце не встанет, и нет такого зла, при котором уцелевшие люди не обрекаются на жизнь.

Пока что даже самые тяжёлые условия в мире нельзя назвать невозможными для жизни. Раз люди могут изменять условия жизни для себя и окружающих, они не имеют права называть землю или города мертвыми, назвав что-то мертвым, снимаешь с себя ответственность за то, что происходит в "мертвой" зоне. 

Раз люди могут менять условия жизни для себя и окружающих, нельзя отказаться от ответственности за то, какие условия созданы в тех или иных местах. Жить ведь можно очень, очень по разному, до почти полной неразличимости со смертью. - Kateryna Lysovenko

In continuation of her participation in the steirischer herbst prologue at the Neue Galerie, Kateryna Lysovenko will be painting a mural for the ground floor of the Kunsthaus Graz for two days. In the foyer of the institution, the Ukrainian painter and performer plans to let the public participate in her work in a semi-public space. 

Lysovenko's artistic language developed from the heritage of the socialist-realist painting tradition, which she transformed into a form of activist painting in the changing political and social environment of the 2000s. In her practice, she turns to research on power and ideology as well as her own struggle to break away from the Soviet Union.
Even before the war, Lysovenko was concerned with the image of sacrifice and oppression. In her painting and performances, she resists the norms of the art academy, works repeatedly and subversively in public space against religious and political propaganda, but also against the suppression of otherness in the everyday life of a state struggling for freedom of expression, autonomy and independence. 

Since her escape and arrival in Graz, Lysovenko has continued to work on painterly realisations of her ongoing preoccupation with Ukrainian reality. In solidarity with the victims, suffering with the bereaved and in opposition to the brutal grimace of war, her works - which she also offers on social media as a platform for discussion - create both philosophical and empathetic commentaries on the prevailing political entanglements and their resulting human fates. 

Kateryna Lysovenko was born in Kiev on 26 October 1989. She received a classical art education at the M.B. Grekova Odessa Art College, then studied at NAOMA and simultaneously completed the "Contemporary Art" course at KAMA. She has recently exhibited at the Memorial Museum "Territory of Terror", Lviv, as well as at Voloshyn Gallery, Kyiv, Tiro al Blanco Gallery, Guadalajara as part of the exhibition Transcending Boundaries, 2021, and BWA Gallery, Zielona Góra, where she was also artist-in-residence in 2022. Her actions refer to the ideological shifts after the collapse of the USSR. At the outbreak of the war, she was one of the women who left the country with their children at the end of March, leaving their partners, parents and friends behind with heavy hearts.