Shcherbenko Art Centre presents Maria Proshkowska's exhibition “Nothing Personal”

Shcherbenko Art Centre presents solo exhibition by Maria Proshkowska “Nothing Personal”, which coincides with the 35th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster and is related to the personal story of the artist's family from April 26, 1986 to May 13, 1986. You can visit the exhibition by following the link. 

Nothing Personal is a project-study of the limits of human vulnerability within the totalitarian system of the Soviet Union. Working with the long-term consequences of traumatic events, the artist turns to the study of post-traumatic stress through the actualization of the memories of their loved ones who faced a difficult choice, in fact, not having it. The artist recreates the contradictory conflict of a person's natural state of caring for relatives and at the same time a forced responsibility to the totalitarian Soviet system of government, for which there is nothing personal.

Just as adequate rehabilitation of people with post-traumatic stress disorder is impossible without the method of reprocessing – recalling personal traumatic experiences with help of a psychotherapist – the rethinking of the Chornobyl tragedy and its consequences should be based on the ability to look fearlessly at all fragments of history. The dissection of painful foci of inflammation is needed in order to free the space from unnecessary noise and finally give a way to answers. The visitor together with the artist will be able to answer the following questions: does the story change depending on the angle of its contemplation? Is there a re/distribution of priorities? Is healing possible? Can a story be personal?

The exhibition features materials from open sources and the artist's family archive. One of the key elements of the exhibition is a series of still-lives created in collaboration with photographer Vitaliy Ocheretyanyi, shot on old SVEMA film damaged by radiation. This film with an expiration date of 1992 was found by Oleksandr Syrota in the abandoned city of Pripyat at the Jupiter plant.

Curator of the exhibition project is Maryna Shcherbenko.
Music curator of the project is Yuriy Khustochka.
Special thanks to Oleksandr Stryzhelchyk and Oleksandr Syrota.

Maria Proshkowska
She studied at the Modern Art Research Institute of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine. Laureate of the special prize of MUHі 2017 and participant of the American Arts Incubator in Ukraine 2018 program. She presented her work in personal and group projects at the Institute of Contemporary Art Problems, Kyiv Art Fair, IZOLYATSIA, Shcherbenko Art Centre, Lavra Gallery, GogolFest, Dzyga Gallery in Lviv, Biryuchiy contemporary art project (Ukraine) and FUTURA (Czech Republic). Lives and works in Kyiv.

Shcherbenko Art Centre
Created by Ukrainian curator Maryna Shcherbenko. The aim of the centre is to create opportunities for dialogue between the art world and a broad audience. Shcherbenko Art Centre arranges the exhibitions and works as a venue for lectures, panel discussions, workshops with leading masters of contemporary art in Ukraine and other countries.
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