One of them, entitled Questioning the Visible, features paintings and videos by Vlada Ralko and Vlodymyr Budnikov, both of whom emigrated from their homeland after Russia invaded in late February. They are currently artists-in-residence at the Arsenal Gallery.
Exhibition curator Monika Szewczyk described their works as “a kind of diary, a record of their emotions triggered by the war.”
She added that the gallery collection includes Ralko’s earlier work entitled A Kyiv Diary. It is a series of drawings that were executed during the Majdan Uprising, a wave of civil unrest in Ukraine in 2013 and 2014.
The other exhibition, entitled So They Won’t Say We Don’t Remember, contains video works by artists and filmmakers Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk. Graduates from the Institute of Screen Arts in Kyiv, they represent the young generation of Ukrainian artists.
Exhibition curator Katarzyna Różniak-Szabelska told the media that the featured works, which date from 2017 to 2022, trace the slow process of transformation of Ukrainian society, including relations between the post-industrial Donbas mining region and the increasingly modern centre of the country and its capital.
Only one work on display was executed after the Russian invasion and refers directly to the war.
The exhibitions at the Arsenal Gallery in Białystok run until November 24.
(mk/gs)