The art project "Letters from the Front," which merges contemporary art with firsthand accounts of the war, will open on April 17 at 3:00 p.m. The exhibition will take place on the first floor of the Great Lavra Bell Tower, located at 21 Ivan Mazepa Street, within the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve.
Interfax-Ukraine reports on the upcoming event.
The art project is a collaborative effort by artists Vladyslav Gabda and Oksana Brenzovych, offering viewers an artistic interpretation of war and its material evidence.
The exhibition's central focus is on real artifacts — damaged bulletproof vests and personal protective equipment — presented as standalone pieces. Gabda’s series, “War Without Embellishment,” emphasizes factuality and traumatic experiences, while Brenzovych’s work, “A Letter That Cannot Be Rewritten,” explores the theme of memory as an irreversible process. Additionally, the exhibition features examples of modern military technology from the 2nd Assault Battalion of the 5th Separate Kyiv Assault Brigade and the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Control Company.
Art historian Mykhailo Syrokhman noted that in this project, reality assumes the qualities of painting, with the boundary between life and death becoming a defining element of the visual language.
The project was realized with support from the Trakai History Museum and in collaboration with the Cultural Forces platform, curated by Alviga Zmejevskene.
The organizers hope the exhibition will serve as a space for reflection on events through personal stories and material evidence that shape Ukraine’s new cultural memory.