Women at War: Contemporary Ukrainian artists and the question of feminist historiography

Join Monika Fabijanska, and Dana Kavelina at Women at War: Contemporary Ukrainian artists and the question of feminist historiography, co-sponsored by Barnard's Art History Department and Barnard Center for Research on Women and featuring an introduction by Provost Linda Bell.

Independent art historian and the curator of the critically acclaimed exhibition Women at War, Monika Fabijanska will discuss works by leading contemporary women artists working in Ukraine, and provide a context for the current war as represented in art across media since the Russian annexation of Crimea and the creation of separatist “republics” in Donbas in 2014.

An independent Ukraine, torn between its colonial past, the unimaginable wounds of the 20th century (the Holodomor, two world wars, and the Holocaust), the aspirations of belonging to the West, and the actuality of an endemic crisis, became obsessed with history. Art of the 2010s was largely focused on the discussion of whether national identity should draw directly upon the short period of pre‐Soviet independence or include the legacy of the Ukrainian SSR. The new generation of artists turned their attention to historiography—how history is written, who writes it, who and what remains invisible.

While history has largely been written – and painted – by men, this presentation will focus on women narrators of history, and will also examine gendered perspectives of war. The presentation will offer an insight into Eastern European feminisms, which are significantly different from the Western mold.

After the presentation, Dana Kavelina’s film Letter to a Turtledove (2020, 21 min.) will be screened, followed by the Q&A session with curator Monika Fabijanska and artist Dana Kavelina.

Monika Fabijanska is a New York-based independent art historian and curator who specializes in women's and feminist art. In 2022, she curated an exhibition of Ukrainian artists, Women at War at Fridman Gallery. The critically acclaimed Betsy Damon. Passages: Rites and Rituals (La MaMa Galleria, 2021) was mentioned among The New York Times best shows of 2021. The widely reviewed ecofeminism(s) (Thomas Erben Gallery, 2020), featured works by Agnes Denes, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Mary Mattingly, Ana Mendieta, and Cecilia Vicuña, among the others. Groundbreaking The Un-Heroic Act: Representations of Rape in Contemporary Women's Art in the U.S. (John Jay College, 2018) was ranked among the best 2018 NYC art shows by Hyperallergic. Accompanied by a catalog and symposium, it featured works by such artists as Lynn Hershman Leeson, Jenny Holzer, Suzanne Lacy, Ana Mendieta, Senga Nengudi, Yoko Ono, and Kara Walker.

Fabijanska provided the initiative and curatorial consulting for The Museum of Modern Art acquisition and retrospective exhibition of Alina Szapocznikow (2012). Her writing on women’s art has appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Women’s Art Journal, Degree Critical (SVA), BLOK Magazine, and Orońsko Sculpture Magazine. | www.monikafabijanska.com