Olena Kulish
Mixed-media visual artist
I am a Ukrainian self-taught artist, currently living in Warsaw, Poland. Having started as a fashion illustrator, I gradually developed my practice into something bigger and more meaningful. Now I call myself a visual storyteller. I use collage, painting digital illustration and graphics to explore such topics as identity, migration, finding home, freedom, femininity.
Since the beginning of my career in late 2022 I have participated in numerous group exhibitions in Warsaw, Berlin, Kyiv and other cities, also took part in several residencies in Ukraine and Poland.
In 2024 I held my first solo show during the residency in Przemyśl, Poland.
Since the beginning of my career in late 2022 I have participated in numerous group exhibitions in Warsaw, Berlin, Kyiv and other cities, also took part in several residencies in Ukraine and Poland.
In 2024 I held my first solo show during the residency in Przemyśl, Poland.
Education
2013
Master’s degree in Marketing(Dnipro National University )
PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS
2024
Regaining(Narodny Dim, Przemysl, Poland)
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2024
EU-UA Bridges of Resilience(Uzhhorod, Ukraine)
2023
Rozgostitsa!(Kühlhaus Berlin, Germany)
Archetypes(Pilecki-Institut, Berlin, Germany)
2023 - 2024
Cosmogony of Senses(Museum of Modern Ukrainian Art “Korsakiv”, Luts’k, Ukraine)
2023
UKRAINE wARTime(The Jablkowski Brothers House, Warsaw, Poland)
RESIDENCIES
2024
Artists without Borders(Berlin, Germany)
EU-UA Bridges of Resilience: Shared Heritage and Common Futures(Uzhhorod, Ukraine)
2022
Individual residency(Zachęta National Gallery, Warsaw, Poland)
AWARDS
2022
Freedom through the Eyes of Women Artists(Bratislava, Slovenia)
Artist statement
My artistic path has begun with my relocation to a different country accompanied by a strive to find an answer to an existential question „who am I?”. Searching for home and disclosure of my own identity have therefore become the most prominent subjects of my artistic research. Through my collages, paintings, graphics and digital art I explore different aspects of identity and combine them into a wholesome visual storytelling, where each element bears its own meaning.
Discovering and shaping of self-identity has become the cornerstone of my artistic practice. Collage-making is a huge part of this process. From my perspective collage is creation of a new reality, a rebuilding after ruination, a chance for a new life for things that could not have survived the old one. It’s a search for new connections, new ways of interaction, and a new sense. This approach is relevant to my migration experience and struggling to find my place in the world that has changed irreversibly.
Identity is not only about who I am, but also about the way I combine things that are present in my life. The search for these combinations is what my artistic practice is about. Manifestation of a woman, freedom as a primary value, migration and searching for a home, memory and belonging, and ties between generations are the elements that constitute the patchwork of my artistic identity
I explore this world through the lens of art, and visual stories that emerge as a result of this process help me shape and understand my self-identity.
Contacts