The Figurative System in the Works During the Russian-Ukrainian War: Nazhyvo (Live) and Mutilated Sky Projects

Abstract

The article analyzes changes of the figurative system in works on military subjects, created in the period from the end of February 2022 to the middle of 2023, focusing on Nazhyvo (Live) and Mutilated Sky projects. The first exhibition of the Nazhyvo project featured works which declared their authors’ rootedness in the cultural layers of their homeland; the second exhibition focused on the theme of human interaction with the universe in times of war; the third exhibition showed the authors’ interest in mythology, which demonstrates a deeper level of artistic comprehension of Ukraine’s modern history. The author highlights that when changing the figurative system due to the expansion of topics and the depth of comprehension of dramatic events, the participants of the Nazhyvo project retain constant motifs in their works, such as archetypal images. In their artistic practices, the participants of the Mutilated Sky project realize the results of comprehending their own identity as a solid foundation in times of great suffering through the expression of rootedness in their family, community, and, more broadly, their native land. The rootedness expressed by the young artists in their own way confirms the tendency manifested in the works of Ukrainian artists during wartime. Thus, for the participants of the Nazhyvo and Mutilated Sky projects, it is important to mark identity in their artistic practices by conveying a connection with their ancestry as a family and their ancestry in the sense of their native land, as well as by placing the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war in a broader historical and cultural context. The effective realization of creative aspirations is facilitated by the development of a figurative system characterized by expansion in the development of sustainable motifs