Catharsis

2022

I had a chance to curate the exhibition Catharsis which was exhibited in December-January 2022-2023 at the Bildungsforum gegen Antiziganismus in Berlin.

Concept note

While the rest of the world observing the ongoing war through the media, Roma and (pro)Roma women in Ukraine currently are encountering a war that started on February 24th, when Russia invaded Ukraine. They are witnessing a whole range of traumatic experiences of forced displacement, emigration, separation from families and friends, and loss of their beloved ones.

“Catharsis” is translated from Greek and means "purification" from negative emotions through art. In order to diminish the effect of the ongoing war on transgenerational trauma we provided art healing support to a small group of 10 Roma and (pro)Roma women, who are mostly non-professional artists and victims of the current war in Ukraine. The created artworks during the healing practice expose us to their emotional passage related to the personal vision of the war.

The Catharsis exhibition shows how “personal” can be a strong manifestation of the current political situation. All these women have so different and unique experiences, but what unites them that an adaptation to the new realities of the war times. Being a Roma woman nowadays demands a lot of mental resilience to face war and discrimination while at the same time believing in the existence of the future.

Artworks created by: Vira Dranhoi, Olha Dementova, Izaura Dryma, Natali Tomenko, Diana Hryhorychenko, Anastasiia Tambovtseva, Marianna Maksymova, Nina Maliekina, Anastasiia Zhuravel.

Curators of the exhibition:
Natali Tomenko, Chinara Majidova