Works by Ukrainian artist from Crimea Maria Kulikovska shown at Crimea Global conference

The works by one of the leading Ukrainian contemporary artists from Crimea, Maria Kulikovska, were presented during the international conference “Crimea Global. Understanding Ukraine through the South” in Kyiv on October 14-16. 

The artist has not been to Crimea since 2014 when Russia occupied the peninsula. Many of her works address this trauma of not having access to the Motherland and loved ones. 

The conference participants saw three installations – Scars, Army of Clones II and Folds of Time / Folds of Memory – which ponder over the consequences of Russian aggression, in particular, through the prism of a woman’s experience. 

Scars sculptural installation is a long-term series of sculptural casts of Maria Kulikovska’s hands and feet made of ballistic soap. It is a metaphorical artistic reminder of the ongoing war, destroyed lives, forced displacement, those who were forced to leave their homes, those who were killed and lost their limbs, protecting the living every day. 

Folds of Time / Folds of Memory is another installation, fragments of which are present in the space of Crimea Global. The folds of the material visualize the limitations of human movement in confrontation, struggle, war, exile. Casts are made of the body of the artist who was forcibly displaced several times (first from Crimea after the occupation, and then from Ukraine after the start of the full-scale invasion), as well as the hands of her mother, who was first forcibly displaced from central Ukraine to the Crimean Peninsula after the Stalinist regime (February 1956) and then from Crimea to central Ukraine after the illegal annexation of Crimea and the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

“Crimea Global. Understanding Ukraine through the South” is the conference held on October 14-15, 2023, that gathered experts from around the world to establish personal contact between them and Ukrainian civil society organizations, as well as the Ukrainian government and parliament. The purpose of the event is to help understand the Crimean Peninsula, the resistance of Ukrainians to Russian aggression, and agree on potential joint projects and initiatives. In particular, the conference was attended by public figures, scientists, Nobel Prize winners, experts from Colombia, Qatar, Chile, Indonesia, the Republic of South Africa, Nicaragua, India, Kazakhstan, Iran, Italy, Mexico, Venezuela, Spain, Uruguay, Kenya, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Libya, Syria, Turkey, as well as Ukraine, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, Armenia and other countries. 

Organizers: International Center for Ukrainian Victory, Media Initiative for Human Rights, Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, International Partnership for Human Rights, Human Rights Centre ZMINA, Ukraine 5AM Coalition. With the support of the Office of the Crimea Platform. 

Within the framework of the conference, ZMINA held a discussion about the impact of war and violence on women in different countries of the world, including Ukraine, India, Mexico and Iran. 

Production and placement of the installation was supported by the International Renaissance Foundation