Artist
Yulia Krivich
Yulia Krivich is a visual artist, curator in Za*Grupa and activist, born in Ukraine, currently based in Warsaw. In her work, she explores issues related to identity, combining elements of activism with personal histories. Her interests include topics related to Eastern Europe and migration. Yulia works with photography and public space.
Graduated from the Department of Architecture of the State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture (2010) in Dnipro (Ukraine) and from the Faculty of Media Arts of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (Poland). She was a participant of the Pla(t)form at the Fotomuseum in Winterthur, Switzerland (2018) and nominated for the Pinchuk Art Center Prize for Young Artists in Ukraine (2018) with her “Daring & Youth project”, recipient of the Solidarity Grant of Krytyka Polityczna (2020) as part of curatorial trio ZA*grupa and is one of the recipients of the Scholarship Program of Warsaw City in 2021.
Daring & Youth
Identity is one of the main themes I explore in my practice. I was born in Dnipro, Ukraine, which now is a city close to the war front line. Seven years ago, I moved to Warsaw to study photography at the Academy of Fine Arts. It was a life-changing experience: I’m still an emigrant in Poland. To this day, it has helped me build a unique perspective on my native land, from a distance.
For “Daring&Youth" project, which is a continuation of my early searches on identity and the transformations of my country, I spent some time with a group of young hooligans of the far-right movement in Ukraine. At the same time, I was taking photos of the abandoned Lenin Palace of Culture in my hometown. The decommunization law had just been brought to force. First, the monuments of communist leaders were dismantled, and then there were changes in the names of many towns and streets... While observing the ongoing transformation, I began to perceive Daring & Youth as a metaphor for many modern political processes.
Working with this group of young war veterans, I focused on their online presence. The reality they created on Instagram and the consequences of a subtle promotion of what they believe is national heroism. The main inspirations for my work were the images that they create. I followed their life through the snapshots of football matches, war battles, and political activities, all filtered through the youthful aesthetics.
Yulia Krivich is a visual artist and activist. She comes from Ukraine, but currently lives in Warsaw. In her works, she refers to her own experiences and touches upon the issues that are important to the identity of Central and Eastern Europe. Photography is one of her forms of artistic activity. Her performative actions, in which she draws attention to the presence of migrants in Poland as well as the historical dependencies and the resulting attitude of the Poles to migrants from the East are also hot-button issues in the Polish media. Through her artistic work, Yulia makes consistent efforts to bring the migrant community into the public debate in Poland and supports their integration.
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