- Main
- Artists' works
- Orizuru
Filonenko Vlad, Nyrkova Marta
At the heart of the installation stands the art object Orizuru (from the Japanese ori — folded, and tsuru — crane), a symbolic medium embodying the archetypes of peace, healing, and the transcendent human aspiration to fulfill a dream.
In everyday life, each of us carries an inner orizuru—a latent image of hope waiting to take material form. The crane functions as a dual metaphor, representing both the fragility of existence and the remarkable resilience that enables us to endure life’s storms and traverse immense distances. Like a folded sheet of paper, the human inner world, when subjected to external turbulence and upheaval, can rediscover its balance, restore its axis, and regain stability through small yet intentional gestures and focused attention. Immersed in the demands of everyday routine, we often lose the ability to experience and attend to our inner states.
Visitors are invited to slow down, spend a moment alone with their thoughts, and fold their own paper crane by following the step-by-step instructions provided within the installation.
The act of folding origami possesses a subtle, almost therapeutic phenomenology. This repetitive manual process requires complete concentration on the delicate contact between fingertips and paper, transforming into a form of tactile meditation. In an era marked by collective trauma and existential uncertainty, such a gesture becomes a means of grounding and self-regulation. It offers a unique experience of reclaiming agency: by regaining control over a fragile fragment of matter held in one’s hands, the participant symbolically moves from external chaos toward an inner sense of order.
As the exhibition progresses, the accumulation of cranes created by visitors gradually visualizes a process of intersubjectivity and collective synergy. Quiet individual thoughts and unspoken hopes come together to form a shared manifesto. The growing installation becomes a tangible expression of a community that, through countless small everyday actions and subtle gestures, continuously shapes, sustains, and affirms its shared living space—and its enduring hope for peace.
Vlad Filonenko was born in 1992 in Kherson. Lives and works in Kyiv.
Vlad works as an artist-restorer, performing restoration of art objects of varying complexity.
2006-2013 – studied at the Taras Shevchenko State Art School in Kyiv.
2013-2017 – studied at the National Academy of Fine Arts. Speciality: technique and restoration of easel and monumental art, Kyiv.
In 2022, he took part in the first collective exhibition “UKRAINE is” of the “Chornozem ART” project at the Art Market Budapest with an art object made of a shell casing.
Marta Nyrkova was born in 1994 in Kyiv, where she lives; watercolour artist.
2005-2013 – studied at the Taras Shevchenko State Art School in Kyiv. Participated in many school competitions and exhibitions.
2013-2017 – studying at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture. Speciality: technique and restoration of easel and monumental art, Kyiv. Graduated with honours.
She works as a research artist, studying changes in the city, terrain, and landscape types. She also works with the concept of nostalgia, capturing moments of “here and now” that immediately become the past due to the rapid passage of time. He works in different directions, experimenting with materials and subjects.
Exhibition projects
2014- personal photo exhibition “Black Water” at the Freud house cafe.
2018- participation in the Mini Watercolour Festival in Kyiv
2018- participation in the exhibition “Aqua Album 2018” in Kyiv
2018- participation in the exhibition at Stefania Palota in Budapest
2018- participation in the exhibition “Sea of Watercolours 2018” in Odesa, Ukraine
2018 – participation in the exhibition “Kyiv through the eyes of Ukrainian artists and architects” in the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute in Kyiv.
2019 – participation in the exhibition “AQUAREL. Intellectual art.”
2019 – participation in the charity exhibition in support of prisoners of war “Come Back Home”
2019 – participation in the exhibition of watercolours “Andrew’s Descent”.
2019 – personal exhibition at the Fairmont Hotel in Kyiv.
2019 – participation in the exhibition “Our Kyiv” at the Pavlo Tychyna Museum.
2020 – participation in the exhibition “Cobalt Blue. Watercolour”.
2020 – participation in the watercolour festival FabrianoInAcquarello, Fabriano, Italy.
2020 – participation in the online 3rd International Festival of Watercolour Miniatures.
2021 – participation in the online exhibition “LIMITLESS” Florence contemporary gallery.
2022 – participation in the watercolour exhibition “Global Art Connection Watercolour Exposition France Poland 2022”, France, Poland.
6-9 October 2022 – participation in the collective exhibition “UKRAINE is” by the Chornozem ART project at the Art Market Budapest with an art object made of a shell.
