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- Artists' works
- From the “Wounds” series (2)
Melnyk Krystyna
“In my work, I use medical archives from the second half of the 20th century. I study traumatic medical histories and reverse eroticism. These images are ambivalent, they contain the erotic, which is constantly converging with the experience of death.
J. Bataille writes in The History of Eroticism: “The genitals are, in principle, alien to the decay of the flesh: their function is just the opposite. Nevertheless, the sight of exposed mucous membranes reminds us of purulent wounds that connect the life of the body with the decomposition of the corpse. In addition, the filth of the discharge continuously associates the genitals with death.” In my work with the drawing, I cover the levkas with yellow to enhance the experience of corporeality.”
Krystyna Melnyk was born in 1993 in Melitopol, Ukraine.
Education
2019 – Viktor Marushchenko’s School of Photography, course on video art curated by Alina Kleytman
2018-2019 – Kyiv Academy of Media Art Contemporary Art Course
2014 – 2018 – National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture on monumental sacred department.
2010 – 2014 – Melitopol High College of Culture, Melitopol, Ukraine
“In my practice, I work with images using the double power of images. In figurative painting, I move away from the concept of narration in favor of a combination of different semantic layers.
The study of the sacred through the image of the suffering body has a significant role in my practice. I use such material as gesso primer in my works which is traditionally used in icon painting.”
Personal project
2020 – Personal exhibition, creative space “Okno”, Kyiv
Awards
2022 – Nominated for Pinchuk Art Prize
Participation in projects
2022 – Living according to the sky
2019 – “Crossroads Sea”, Voloshin Gallery, Kyiv
2019 – “Living Together”, exhibition after course on contemporary art at KAMA, The Naked Room Gallery, Kyiv
