Shared Home.Shared Fight

Shared Home.Shared Fight

Shared Home.Shared Fight was born out of questions that the Russian full-scale war of aggression raised in Europe, specifically Ukraine and the Netherlands: What are we becoming in response to this war? How can we grow into a Europe where the responsibility to protect one another is truly mutual?  What does it mean to defend a shared home within a continent whose borders have long been contested and hierarchical? 

Boiling down to: what does a home to protect mean for each of us?
How can we work together and support each other, as the Dutch and the Ukrainians, to get the strength to protect it?

To answer those questions, we brought together four pairs of Ukrainian and Dutch artists, each pair working in a different medium and combining their diverse backgrounds to provide their reflections. In the exhibition space, you will be able to immerse yourself in each pair’s perspectives, within their joint artworks, combining their past and present views on the subject, embodying the “shared” part of the concept. 

The artist pairs are:

• Anna Kakhiani and Els van der Graaf. Although spanning different generations, this first duo tackles shared themes of identity, cultural values, and the psychological effects of displacement. Anna’s interdisciplinary practice investigates the role of empathy, language, and embodied experience in shaping dynamics of belonging and resistance in the context of forced migration, while Els searches for intrinsic values present in various cultures. She concentrates on universal images and ideas in non-western art, classical art and philosophy, which kept their expressiveness until today. Together, they reflect a shared  European space where memory, belonging, and resilience are central. Visually and conceptually, their practices and mutual resonance highlight the importance of solidarity and understanding between cultures.
  
  
• Hanna Hrabarska and Edwin van Gelder. Hanna’s photographic work gives an intimate, personal voice to the experience of war refugees — especially the stigmas and emotional complexity tied to displacement caused by Russian aggression. Her works offer a powerful reflection on what it means to lose, search for, or rebuild a sense of home. Edwin, a Dutch designer working at the intersection of art and architecture, intertwines and amplifies such narratives through thoughtful photographic presentations in his collaboration with Hanna. Together, they embody a cooperation of Dutch and Ukrainian voices that create a vision of Europe as a shared home.
  
  
• Katya Motyleva and Esmee van Zeeventer. Both create deeply emotional, visually poetic work centered on loss, memory, and belonging, making their pairing especially powerful in the context of a Europe threatened by war. Katya’s photography directly addresses the trauma of displacement, having experienced the loss of a home twice due to Russian aggression. From a Dutch perspective, Esmee explores aspects of emotional loss and longing that are more resonant across contexts, creating a visual language that harmonizes with Katya’s. Together, their work bridges personal and collective grief, showing how both Dutch and Ukrainian experiences can align around the shared need to protect the home — both as a physical space and as an emotional and cultural symbol — within Europe.
  
  
• Sophia Bulgakova and Ymer Marinus. This final pair shares a formal and conceptual language in technology, sensorial immersion, and interdisciplinary experimentation. Their existing collaborations are a testament to how Ukrainian and Dutch artists can co-create powerful and thought-provoking work. Sophia’s exploration of cultural identity and the meaning of home, often through interactive and immersive formats, speaks directly to the psychological and emotional dimensions of Russia’s aggression. Ymer engages with similar themes by using technology as a means of humanizing and deepening our understanding of our digital and physical worlds. Their works’ ability to formally and conceptually complement one another is a testament to the importance of artistic cross-cultural collaboration in embodying and presenting a vision of home as it exists in the context of a fight against Russia’s aggression.

The exhibition will also have an event programme, to be announced closer to the opening date.
 
The exhibition’s team consists of three young Ukrainian cultural practitioners: Liza Vozniuk (curator), Anna Bezpala (lead organiser), Valery Hlumov (art director). The team forms part of VATAHA Foundation – a platform for Ukrainian art and culture in the Netherlands. The exhibition is done in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute in the Netherlands and Arti et Amicitiae, co-sponsored by the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Het Cultuurfonds, Leve het Geven and our many donors from the Voordekunst crowdsurfing platform.