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Hnylytska Ksenia
A 4-minute video by Ukrainian artist Ksenia Hnylytska, in which she appears as the “Prophetess Ksenia of Kyiv,” performing various rituals addressing urgent social issues. The video was filmed in Munich, in and around the statue of Bavaria. There, Ksenia performs a ritual titled “Ritual to soften the evil hearts of dictators.”
The idea of conducting it inside the heart of the Bavaria statue — next to the heart-shaped Theresienwiese square — lies in the fact that this place was once the starting point of the destructive activity of the German dictator. Here, we wish to send all maternal love to the obsessed hearts of current dictators (we all know whom) and their accomplices.
The project also aims to show those who remain in Ukraine that we, the refugees, are with them — we carry our country in our hearts wherever we go.
Script by Ksenia Hnylytska
Camera by Oleksandra Lavrenchuk
Idea by Oleksandra Lavrenchuk
Editing by Daria Veshtak
Ksenia Hnylytska (b. 1984, Kyiv) is a Ukrainian artist, co-founder of the groups R.E.P. and “Hudrada.” She works across painting, drawing, ceramics, and video, combining traditional and experimental techniques.
Her practice explores themes of identity, memory, and social reality. In both solo and group exhibitions, she reflects on everyday life, collective experience, and global challenges — from climate change to war. Her works often merge irony with a poetic sensibility, offering subtle commentary on complex social processes.
Selected projects include: “Stratigraphy” (Kyiv, 2016), “Degree of Dependence” (Wrocław, 2016), “Lest The Two Seas Meet” (Warsaw, 2015), “Color Test” (Kyiv, 2013).
She was a PinchukArtCentre Prize 2020 nominee.
In her interviews, Hnylytska openly addresses the challenges faced by women artists: stereotypes, balancing motherhood and creativity, and what she calls the “Mermaid Effect” — the feeling of cultural invisibility in a foreign context. Her work bridges the personal and the political, creating space for dialogue between intimate experience and broader societal change.