Through photography, installations and poetry, Canadian artist Lesja Marushchak strives to tell stories that explore trauma, collective memory and humanity, creating a space for a deep emotional connection with the viewer.
On August 15, Lesya Marushchak's exhibition “Poetry of Our Children”, dedicated to Ukrainian minors who were victims of displacement, kidnapping and genocide, was opened at the Institute of Contemporary Art Problems in Kyiv. In the center of the exposition are 12 children's portraits and a textile installation that redefines these events. Video works reflecting collective pain and transgenerational trauma are also presented. The project is implemented with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation and aims to draw attention to the theme of genocide and memory.
The preparation of the Lesya Marushchak exhibition in Kyiv, entitled “Poetry of Our Children”, continued since 2022. The project was supported by the Canadian Foundation Canada Council for the Arts, and initially had a different purpose — to create a film and a website. However, when Yana Grinko from the Holodomor Museum approached the artist, there was an opportunity to present this project in Ukraine. Thanks to the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, the exhibition was organized in a month.
The main message of the exposition is to explore collective and individual trauma, particularly through the experiences of children. Marushchak emphasizes that her goal is to create a space where people can gather, learn something new about their history, and live together trauma and healing that are often difficult to put into words.
The artist emphasizes the importance of collective participation in performances: “I have always been interested in the theme of children and the trauma they experience during the war. Everyone has their own trauma — whether it's soldiers at the front or their families. I can't fully understand this experience, but as a photographer and author, I feel a duty to create a space where people can come together, remember their story and work together on the future. It is a place for learning, memories and, ultimately, for healing. My dream is to bring the exhibition to war-torn places in Ukraine, so that people can come together, express their experiences, even if it is through movement, gestures or dance. Anyone who feels pain and wants to express it can take part.”
In the center of the exhibition Marushchak there are 12 large portraits of children. They symbolize three historical tragedies: the internment of Ukrainians in Canada during World War I, the Holodomor, and the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia during the war today. Lesya wanted everyone who looks at these images to be able to meet the children with a glance, feel and understand what they have been through.
“I wanted people to be able to look into the eyes of these children, to feel their pain and experience. The photos were created using archival images and old analog techniques to add extra depth to them,” the artist notes.
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In addition to photographs, the exhibition offers viewers to plunge into a special space where you can think about the tragedies that children have faced. According to the photographer, this space is not just a place to view works, it is built in the form of a symbolic circle:
“It's not just pictures on the walls. This is a place where people can immerse themselves in the atmosphere, reflect on the tragedies that these children have experienced. The space is built in the form of a sacred circle, which symbolically protects the pain of these stories,” Marushchak emphasizes.
In the center of this space are the ritual elements: motanks, loaves and candles that symbolize life, death and the unhealed injuries that these children carry in their memory. Viewers can walk between these elements, touch them, reflect on the past, and even receive a slice of bread as a symbol of unity with history.
An important source of inspiration for Lesya Marushchak was the poem by Sergei Zhadan “How we built our houses...”. In it, the author explores the question of building one's own home, country and self-sacrifice for the sake of these values. This theme is especially relevant in the context of war, when people lose their homes and are willing to give their lives to defend their land.
“These sacrifices shape our memory. That is why the poem of Sergei Zhadan became a great inspiration for me. This experience, when people do not just look at photos, but experience them, is the main thing at the exhibition,” says Lesya.
Marushchak's exhibition doesn't just showcase photographs, it creates an emotional experience that helps to deeply understand the themes of war, trauma and collective memory. It's a place where people can gather, remember history, and reflect on what it means to live, fight, and lose for the future.
Lesja Marushchak strives to make her art interactive. She wants viewers to be able to touch and interact with her works. In one of her performances in the Canadian prairies, she used a large canvas that changed under the influence of rain and wind. After that, she added various elements, including pigments and wax, to turn it into a finished work. For the artist, the viewer plays a key role:
“My art is not under glass, because I want people to be able to touch it, to feel it. When the viewer interacts with the work, the effect becomes stronger, the memory of the experience remains. For me, art only comes to life when a person enters a space and becomes part of that dialogue,” says the author.
Lesya Marushchak, known for her Holodomor project, spoke about how her experience with this topic influenced the perception of modern war. She notes that she sees clear parallels between those tragic events and the current Russian invasion of Ukraine: “Working on the Holodomor issue, I tried to give voice to those who died. I have always had the question of individual and collective responsibility. I thought for a long time: what would I do in their place? Why hasn't the world responded to these crimes? And when a full-scale war began in 2022, it became obvious to me that Russia had not completed its intentions regarding Ukraine. They returned, continuing the genocide that had been launched in the 20th century.”
The war, according to Marushchak, is a continuation of the same processes that took place during the Holodomor, when the Ukrainian people were deliberately destroyed. “For me, this war is not just a fight over territory or borders. This is genocide. The Holodomor was only the beginning, and now we see the continuation of this strategy of annihilation of the Ukrainian people. What people experienced during the Holodomor is a reflection of today's events, when Russia is again trying to destroy the Ukrainian nation,” the artist says.
Lesja Marushchak is a famous artist for whom photography is not just a means of capturing the moment, but a powerful tool for expressing emotions and telling complex stories. Her approach to photography is characterized by depth and creative freedom, where traditional rules are often violated for the sake of a deeper meaning.
“Photographing for me is a way to capture what I feel and express stories. I do not adhere to traditional rules — for me photography goes beyond the classical canons. I like to break the rules using different techniques, including analog processes. For me, the camera is just a tool, the main thing is the story it helps to tell,” says Lesya. “Recently, I worked with the cyanotype technique, printing the names of 20,000 children abducted by Russia on English-speaking dictionaries in 1932-1933, during the Holodomor. This is a kind of protest against the fact that the word “Holodomor” is still not recognized in the dictionaries of any English-speaking country. For me, photography is not just a technical process — it's an opportunity to show what matters.”
For Lesja Marushchak, photography is an art that lives through interaction with emotions, stories and cultural influences. She uses this medium to not just preserve the moment, but to convey a narrative that goes beyond time: “My love for Byzantine icons influences my works. The icon painter I worked with asked me why I was painting on top of photos. For me, photography is a static object, almost dead. I try to “wake up” it, change the relationship between the viewer and the image, so that it becomes not just a moment, but a story.”
Lesya Marushchak, an artist with Ukrainian roots, came to photography not immediately, although it has always been part of her family history. Her grandfather collected cameras, her father made family films, and her mother was a photographer. Now the artist is working on a new project based on the collection of her father's films.
As a child, her godfather gave her her first camera, but Lesya did not turn to photography for many years, wanting to “live the moments” rather than document them.
It wasn't until the important narrative she wanted to express emerged that Marushchak returned to camera and painting, starting her career as a photographer: “Photography became a way for me to express narratives — the stories of my people and my personal history. It is not just snapshots, it is a way to keep important moments in the collective memory so that they do not disappear. As well as helping others form memories of events and stories they may be hearing about for the first time. This is especially important for atrocities such as the Holodomor, which is still unknown in many places and among many peoples.”
Her goal is to tell the stories of her community that have remained unknown through photography and to preserve them in the collections of museums and libraries.
Lesya Marushchak continues to work on the development of her art project presented in Kiev, and also develops new ideas. Her work goes beyond photography, combining installations, poetry, and profound social messages. Marushchak strives to create art that not only shows, but also evokes emotions and acts on viewers through a strong emotional connection.
“The project in Kyiv will continue to develop, gaining its life, like every work. I also started a new project, “The Gathering,” dedicated to the two years of war. In it, I use the cyanotype technique to create 730 pages of dictionaries with the names of 20,000 children abducted by Russia. Where there is no name, an empty block remains and some names are repeated to show their number. This is a huge carpet on the floor. In addition, I create an installation in the form of a table with traditional Ukrainian towels, symbolizing children who are not at this table.”
Marushchak emphasizes the importance of creating an emotional connection between the viewer and art. She notes that, unfortunately, today viewers may be “tired” or psychologically overwhelmed by all the war photos they see, so her goal is to keep working to hold their attention and engage them emotionally. She also strives to immerse viewers in a space where they can feel something deeper, touch pain and loss: “People have become insensitive to photos from the war — they no longer stop to look at bombed houses. But if a person can touch something, feel a connection and emotions, it changes their attitude. My photography works when it causes tears, touches, leaves a mark on memory, and emphasizes humanity.”
Lesja Marushchak shares how important it is for her to be part of a community of professional photographers. Her approach to art is more than just aesthetics; it is social action and political expression. However, she sees herself as part of a team where everyone has a purpose.
“It is a great honor for me to be a member of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers. Although I am on the periphery in some aspects and my work is more political, it is important to know that I belong to a group of people who share the same goal, although they approach it in different ways.”
The art of Lesia Marushchak lives through an emotional connection with the viewer, immersing him in a world of memory, pain and hope. Her work creates a space for reflection and healing, where viewers can not only see tragedies, but also experience them on a profound level, engaging in a dialogue between the past and the future.
Lesia Marushchak— an artist and curator who through photography, archival materials and installations explores the histories of colonized peoples and their transformations under the influence of geopolitical factors, as well as the individual and collective cultural consequences of expulsions. Her narrative exhibitions with static and dynamic images and rough and delicate sculptural elements have been presented in more than 65 museums, galleries and art spaces around the world. Her most famous project in Ukraine is dedicated to the Holodomor of 1932—1933 and is called “Project MARIA”.
The material was worked on:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Vira Labych
Bildeditor: Vyacheslav Ratynskyi
Literary Editor: Julia Futei
Site Manager: Vladislav Kuhar
Through photography, installations and poetry, Canadian artist Lesja Marushchak strives to tell stories that explore trauma, collective memory and humanity, creating a space for a deep emotional connection with the viewer.
On August 15, Lesya Marushchak's exhibition “Poetry of Our Children”, dedicated to Ukrainian minors who were victims of displacement, kidnapping and genocide, was opened at the Institute of Contemporary Art Problems in Kyiv. In the center of the exposition are 12 children's portraits and a textile installation that redefines these events. Video works reflecting collective pain and transgenerational trauma are also presented. The project is implemented with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation and aims to draw attention to the theme of genocide and memory.
The preparation of the Lesya Marushchak exhibition in Kyiv, entitled “Poetry of Our Children”, continued since 2022. The project was supported by the Canadian Foundation Canada Council for the Arts, and initially had a different purpose — to create a film and a website. However, when Yana Grinko from the Holodomor Museum approached the artist, there was an opportunity to present this project in Ukraine. Thanks to the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, the exhibition was organized in a month.
The main message of the exposition is to explore collective and individual trauma, particularly through the experiences of children. Marushchak emphasizes that her goal is to create a space where people can gather, learn something new about their history, and live together trauma and healing that are often difficult to put into words.
The artist emphasizes the importance of collective participation in performances: “I have always been interested in the theme of children and the trauma they experience during the war. Everyone has their own trauma — whether it's soldiers at the front or their families. I can't fully understand this experience, but as a photographer and author, I feel a duty to create a space where people can come together, remember their story and work together on the future. It is a place for learning, memories and, ultimately, for healing. My dream is to bring the exhibition to war-torn places in Ukraine, so that people can come together, express their experiences, even if it is through movement, gestures or dance. Anyone who feels pain and wants to express it can take part.”
In the center of the exhibition Marushchak there are 12 large portraits of children. They symbolize three historical tragedies: the internment of Ukrainians in Canada during World War I, the Holodomor, and the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia during the war today. Lesya wanted everyone who looks at these images to be able to meet the children with a glance, feel and understand what they have been through.
“I wanted people to be able to look into the eyes of these children, to feel their pain and experience. The photos were created using archival images and old analog techniques to add extra depth to them,” the artist notes.
In addition to photographs, the exhibition offers viewers to plunge into a special space where you can think about the tragedies that children have faced. According to the photographer, this space is not just a place to view works, it is built in the form of a symbolic circle:
“It's not just pictures on the walls. This is a place where people can immerse themselves in the atmosphere, reflect on the tragedies that these children have experienced. The space is built in the form of a sacred circle, which symbolically protects the pain of these stories,” Marushchak emphasizes.
In the center of this space are the ritual elements: motanks, loaves and candles that symbolize life, death and the unhealed injuries that these children carry in their memory. Viewers can walk between these elements, touch them, reflect on the past, and even receive a slice of bread as a symbol of unity with history.
An important source of inspiration for Lesya Marushchak was the poem by Sergei Zhadan “How we built our houses...”. In it, the author explores the question of building one's own home, country and self-sacrifice for the sake of these values. This theme is especially relevant in the context of war, when people lose their homes and are willing to give their lives to defend their land.
“These sacrifices shape our memory. That is why the poem of Sergei Zhadan became a great inspiration for me. This experience, when people do not just look at photos, but experience them, is the main thing at the exhibition,” says Lesya.
Marushchak's exhibition doesn't just showcase photographs, it creates an emotional experience that helps to deeply understand the themes of war, trauma and collective memory. It's a place where people can gather, remember history, and reflect on what it means to live, fight, and lose for the future.
Lesja Marushchak strives to make her art interactive. She wants viewers to be able to touch and interact with her works. In one of her performances in the Canadian prairies, she used a large canvas that changed under the influence of rain and wind. After that, she added various elements, including pigments and wax, to turn it into a finished work. For the artist, the viewer plays a key role:
“My art is not under glass, because I want people to be able to touch it, to feel it. When the viewer interacts with the work, the effect becomes stronger, the memory of the experience remains. For me, art only comes to life when a person enters a space and becomes part of that dialogue,” says the author.
Lesya Marushchak, known for her Holodomor project, spoke about how her experience with this topic influenced the perception of modern war. She notes that she sees clear parallels between those tragic events and the current Russian invasion of Ukraine: “Working on the Holodomor issue, I tried to give voice to those who died. I have always had the question of individual and collective responsibility. I thought for a long time: what would I do in their place? Why hasn't the world responded to these crimes? And when a full-scale war began in 2022, it became obvious to me that Russia had not completed its intentions regarding Ukraine. They returned, continuing the genocide that had been launched in the 20th century.”
The war, according to Marushchak, is a continuation of the same processes that took place during the Holodomor, when the Ukrainian people were deliberately destroyed. “For me, this war is not just a fight over territory or borders. This is genocide. The Holodomor was only the beginning, and now we see the continuation of this strategy of annihilation of the Ukrainian people. What people experienced during the Holodomor is a reflection of today's events, when Russia is again trying to destroy the Ukrainian nation,” the artist says.
Lesja Marushchak is a famous artist for whom photography is not just a means of capturing the moment, but a powerful tool for expressing emotions and telling complex stories. Her approach to photography is characterized by depth and creative freedom, where traditional rules are often violated for the sake of a deeper meaning.
“Photographing for me is a way to capture what I feel and express stories. I do not adhere to traditional rules — for me photography goes beyond the classical canons. I like to break the rules using different techniques, including analog processes. For me, the camera is just a tool, the main thing is the story it helps to tell,” says Lesya. “Recently, I worked with the cyanotype technique, printing the names of 20,000 children abducted by Russia on English-speaking dictionaries in 1932-1933, during the Holodomor. This is a kind of protest against the fact that the word “Holodomor” is still not recognized in the dictionaries of any English-speaking country. For me, photography is not just a technical process — it's an opportunity to show what matters.”
For Lesja Marushchak, photography is an art that lives through interaction with emotions, stories and cultural influences. She uses this medium to not just preserve the moment, but to convey a narrative that goes beyond time: “My love for Byzantine icons influences my works. The icon painter I worked with asked me why I was painting on top of photos. For me, photography is a static object, almost dead. I try to “wake up” it, change the relationship between the viewer and the image, so that it becomes not just a moment, but a story.”
Lesya Marushchak, an artist with Ukrainian roots, came to photography not immediately, although it has always been part of her family history. Her grandfather collected cameras, her father made family films, and her mother was a photographer. Now the artist is working on a new project based on the collection of her father's films.
As a child, her godfather gave her her first camera, but Lesya did not turn to photography for many years, wanting to “live the moments” rather than document them.
It wasn't until the important narrative she wanted to express emerged that Marushchak returned to camera and painting, starting her career as a photographer: “Photography became a way for me to express narratives — the stories of my people and my personal history. It is not just snapshots, it is a way to keep important moments in the collective memory so that they do not disappear. As well as helping others form memories of events and stories they may be hearing about for the first time. This is especially important for atrocities such as the Holodomor, which is still unknown in many places and among many peoples.”
Her goal is to tell the stories of her community that have remained unknown through photography and to preserve them in the collections of museums and libraries.
Lesya Marushchak continues to work on the development of her art project presented in Kiev, and also develops new ideas. Her work goes beyond photography, combining installations, poetry, and profound social messages. Marushchak strives to create art that not only shows, but also evokes emotions and acts on viewers through a strong emotional connection.
“The project in Kyiv will continue to develop, gaining its life, like every work. I also started a new project, “The Gathering,” dedicated to the two years of war. In it, I use the cyanotype technique to create 730 pages of dictionaries with the names of 20,000 children abducted by Russia. Where there is no name, an empty block remains and some names are repeated to show their number. This is a huge carpet on the floor. In addition, I create an installation in the form of a table with traditional Ukrainian towels, symbolizing children who are not at this table.”
Marushchak emphasizes the importance of creating an emotional connection between the viewer and art. She notes that, unfortunately, today viewers may be “tired” or psychologically overwhelmed by all the war photos they see, so her goal is to keep working to hold their attention and engage them emotionally. She also strives to immerse viewers in a space where they can feel something deeper, touch pain and loss: “People have become insensitive to photos from the war — they no longer stop to look at bombed houses. But if a person can touch something, feel a connection and emotions, it changes their attitude. My photography works when it causes tears, touches, leaves a mark on memory, and emphasizes humanity.”
Lesja Marushchak shares how important it is for her to be part of a community of professional photographers. Her approach to art is more than just aesthetics; it is social action and political expression. However, she sees herself as part of a team where everyone has a purpose.
“It is a great honor for me to be a member of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers. Although I am on the periphery in some aspects and my work is more political, it is important to know that I belong to a group of people who share the same goal, although they approach it in different ways.”
The art of Lesia Marushchak lives through an emotional connection with the viewer, immersing him in a world of memory, pain and hope. Her work creates a space for reflection and healing, where viewers can not only see tragedies, but also experience them on a profound level, engaging in a dialogue between the past and the future.
Lesia Marushchak— an artist and curator who through photography, archival materials and installations explores the histories of colonized peoples and their transformations under the influence of geopolitical factors, as well as the individual and collective cultural consequences of expulsions. Her narrative exhibitions with static and dynamic images and rough and delicate sculptural elements have been presented in more than 65 museums, galleries and art spaces around the world. Her most famous project in Ukraine is dedicated to the Holodomor of 1932—1933 and is called “Project MARIA”.
The material was worked on:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Vira Labych
Bildeditor: Vyacheslav Ratynskyi
Literary Editor: Julia Futei
Site Manager: Vladislav Kuhar
UAPP is an independent association of professional Ukrainian photographers, designed to protect their interests, support, develop and promote Ukrainian photography as an important element of national culture.
UAPP's activities span educational, social, research and cultural initiatives, as well as book publishing.
UAPP represents Ukrainian professional photography in the international photographic community and is an official member of the Federation of European Photographers (FEP) — an international organization representing more than 50,000 professional photographers in Europe and other countries around the world.
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