ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION OF EXISTENTIAL LOSSES IN THE PAINTING OF UKRAINIAN ARTISTS OF THE EARLY 21ST CENTURY: THROUGH THE PRISM OF AN INTENSIFIED GAZE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/2415-8151.2026.40.41Keywords:
Ukrainian painting, cultural trauma, war, Vlada Ralko, Lesia Khomenko, Nikita Kadan, Zhanna Kadyrova, postmemory, visual strategies, existential loss, intensified gaze, wartime art, traumatic testimony, materialization of losses, ethical responsibilityAbstract
Purpose. The relevance of the study is determined by the unprecedented intensity of wartime experience that defines the existential horizon of Ukrainian society in the early 21st century and requires reflection through the language of painting and related visual practices. The purpose of the article is to identify and analyze the artistic and figurative strategies employed by contemporary Ukrainian artists in their paintings as a result of an intensified gaze into the depths of existential losses experienced daily by the Ukrainian people. Methodology. The research is based on theories of cultural trauma by J. Alexander, postmemory by M. Hirsch, and contemporary trauma studies by C. Caruth. A comprehensive set of methods was applied: hermeneutic analysis of works, structural-iconographic and formal-plastic analysis, contextual analysis in connection with historical events of the Revolution of Dignity, the war in Donbas, and the full-scale invasion of 2022, as well as engagement of cultural trauma theory, memory studies, and thanatological discourse. Results. The practices of Vlada Ralko («Kyiv Diary», «Lviv Diary»), Lesia Khomenko (cycles based on war video testimonies), Nikita Kadan (projects with ruins and museum artifacts), and Zhanna Kadyrova («Palianytsia») were analyzed. The evolution from fixation of individual traumas to collective narratives of memory and resistance was identified. Strategies of «intensified gaze» were distinguished: diary-like seriality of Ralko, work with digital footage by Khomenko, historical continuity of ruins by Kadan, materialization of losses by Kadyrova. The shift of focus from heroic plots to fragments of bodies, explosion traces, and architectural debris as carriers of inexpressible loss was demonstrated. Scientific novelty. For the first time, a systematic analysis of painting and painting-oriented practices of Ukrainian artists of the early 21st century (Vlada Ralko, Lesia Khomenko, Nikita Kadan, and Zhanna Kadyrova) was conducted through the prism of the concept of existential loss and the strategy of «intensified gaze» within the context of cultural trauma, postmemory, and thanatological discourse. The conceptual parameters of the intensified gaze as an ethical and aesthetic stance of contemporary Ukrainian art were clarified. Practical relevance. The results can be used in art history research on wartime art, museum and curatorial practices, educational programs in contemporary art theory. The material will serve as a basis for interdisciplinary studies (art history + trauma psychology), analysis of visual evidence of war crimes, and formation of collective cultural memory.
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