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- Stolen Land
Matiashova Maria
When the space of this room represents the entirety of Ukraine, the area marked by text signifies the portion of territory occupied by Russia*. The stolen space is framed by excerpts from the violated provisions of the Budapest Memorandum — the agreement that guaranteed Ukraine’s security in exchange for relinquishing its nuclear arsenal.
The principle of pacta sunt servanda (“agreements must be kept”) has capitulated before Russian KAB bombs and Iranian Shahed drones.
I am left with only one question: what does it mean to live in a home, a part of which you can no longer enter?
* — As of 2025, according to Deep State data, 19% of Ukraine’s territory remains under occupation. The 6.64 m² of delineated gallery space proportionally represents the part of Ukraine seized by the enemy.
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).
