Ukraine. A Different Angle on Neighbourhood

The threads of history and political threads form the basis of the publication devoted to the exhibition on the relations between Poland and Ukraine from the end of the 17th century to the present day. It contains 75 works by 57 artists. The focus on culture makes the reproductions within it form a multi-threaded fabric, because throughout history, modern culture has been a substitute for a non-existent state for both nations.

The warp that appears in the album is extremely complicated: it consists of the most myth-creating images, but at the same time, new, completely modern weaves, new threads are drawn between them: the Ukrainian identity myth of Cossacks turns out to be a thread similar to the Polish insurgent myth, the symbolism of the Ukrainian cottage it is connected with the Polish court, Cossacks and Sarmatians look at each other in coffin portraits from the 18th century, the myth of black earth collides with modern projects of the R.E.P. group, and Donetsk and Lviv begin another, parallel lines of imagination.

The works of artists build completely new contexts, a new canon of symbols is being born before our eyes, which translates into the birth of a narrative of a completely different quality. However, this process does not take place through conflict and polemics, but through dialogue, entanglement of threads.