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Matiashova Maria
The threat of loss compels us to see the essential — the profoundly precious — within the familiar. Home is a simple word of three letters, yet now, on its very threshold, language itself falters.
Home is a refuge for life. And yet, it can no longer offer shelter, for it has become a space of danger. In a sense, we are all mourning our homes.
The longing to touch the place of origin, the peaceful rhythm of life once held within it, grows so strong — almost to the point of memory itself.
Sadly, to touch is not to return.
In collaboration: layout by Nastia Kolodka, laser by Bohdan, Ostriv Platform, acrylic by Fablab Fabricator, supervision by Oleksandr Manukians.
Maria Matiashova is a Ukrainian artist from Kyiv. She holds a law degree from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Having left her legal career behind, she began her artistic practice in 2020. In her work, she seeks simple yet eloquent gestures, exploring social relations, institutions, memory, and language. Her practice engages with war-related trauma and political critique, employing performance, text, video, objects, and installation.
Her projects include Reassembling (a 10-hour performance reflecting on the experience of displacement among refugees), Rules of the Game (a group performance that examines the subtle effects of war on civilians through bodily practices and the lens of real children’s war games), and the board game Svitlodil (a work reflecting on how systematic power outages—caused by Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure—disrupted and transformed everyday life).
Maria has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including Found in Losses (Ukrainian House, Kyiv, 2025); Messages from Another Borderless Area (European Capital of Culture, Nova Gorica, 2025); As of Now — Silence (House of Sound, Lviv, 2024); (pro)languages and Recognition Practices. Exhibition “Defloration” (Small Gallery of Mystetskyi Arsenal, 2023–2024); How Are You? (Bunkier Sztuki Gallery, Krakow, 2023); Dear Future (Promocyjna Gallery, Warsaw, 2023; BWA Gallery / Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biała, 2024); Observatory on Deculturalisation, Chapter 1(OXYD, Winterthur, 2023); Na Głos / Aloud (Labirynth Gallery, Lublin, 2022); (UN)WELCOME (Galeria ASP, Krakow, 2022); and Reclaim Award (Cologne, 2022).
She has also taken part in several festivals, including Translitatorium (Khmelnytskyi, 2025), Łódź Photo Festival (Łódź, 2023), Ryšiai Festivalis (Vilnius, 2023), Banguoja Audiofestivalis (Vilnius, 2023), Festival of Spooky Action at a Distance(Tallinn, 2023), and Poruch (Odesa, 2023).
Maria Matiashova is a laureate of the Prince Claus Seed Award (2025) and a recipient of the Antonin Artaud Fellowship (2024). She is co-author of the book HOW ARE YOU (Welcome, Krakow, 2025) and has been published in Ukraine on Fire (Mystetskyi Arsenal, 2023) and DTF Magazine No. 4 (don’t Take Fake, 2023).
