Elena Subach: Hidden

Opening April 19, 6:30-8:00 PM

The series was created in Lviv, one of Ukraine’s major artistic centres. The bitter irony can be seen behind the inverse character of the images: as the war draws more attention to Ukrainian art and it has been getting worldwide media coverage, the artworks themselves have to be physically concealed and protected. Conservator-restorers sheltered them in safe places. Due to safety concerns, the press had refrained from publicising the details of these urgent actions, thus prompting a quest for non-documentary and artistic ways of telling about this gesture of appreciation and care.

ELENA SUBACH (1980) is a Ukrainian visual artist from Chervonohrad, Ukraine, but currently lives and works in Lviv. Elena studied economics and received her master’s degree (2002) from the Department of Economics at Lesia Ukrainka Eastern European National University before turning to photography in 2012. Since then, she has been collaborating on art projects with another photographer, Viacheslav Poliakov. Elena developed her own unique understanding of Ukrainian visual culture in an autodidactic manner. Between 2019 and 2022, she worked in curatorial practice at the Borys Voznytsky Lviv National Art Gallery. Currently, she is teaching courses in art history and curatorial practice at the School of Visual Communications SKVOT in Kyiv. Elena is member of the “Ukrainian Photographic Alternative” Association. Her photographs have been published in numerous magazines and newspapers, including British Journal of Photography, Weltkunst, Vogue Poland, the Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and many others. She has received numerous awards such as the New East Photo Prize from Calvert Foundation (2016), Future Talents (2019) nominee and the Gaude Polonia Scholarship (2019). Her work has been featured at international exhibitions, most recently at the Nordic House in Reykjavik, Photo Elysee Museum of Photography in Lausanne, Kunstforum Wien in Vienna, Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv, Willy Brandt House in Berlin, the World Bank in Washington, DC, and the Tycho Brahe Museum in Ven, Sweden. In the autumn of 2022, a British publisher Besides Press has released Elena`s book Hidden.

ACCESS INFORMATION

April 20 – June 9, 2023

Bibliotheca Hertziana, Palazzo Zuccari, Via Gregoriana 30

Exhibition opening hours: Mon-Fri 9:30 – 6:30 PM with registration only at freiberg@biblhertz.it

Opening: April 19, 2023, 6:30-8:00 PM without registration

Artist talk (Villino Stroganoff, via Gregoriana 22) and guided tour: April 20 at 3:00 PM - Please register here: https://events.biblhertz.it/event/69/

Curated by Oleksandra Osadcha