What Hinders A Sermon Becomes One/ Те, що заважає стати проповіддю, стає нею 

Mykhailo Alekseenko | Михайло Алексеєнко

(1989, Kyiv - currently resides in Kyiv, working on a memorial to fallen Ukrainian soldiers and taking part in a documentary about Ukrainian artists during the war)

Glass with Wine, from the series ‘Fragments, Spring 2022 
Glass and textile, 6 x 4,5 cm en 4,5 x 4,5 cm

Mykhailo Alekseenko reconstructs broken crystal and tableware from homes in the Kyiv region. After the reconquest of these areas by Ukraine, the shards are a reminder of the destruction that occurred during the Russian invasion. But they also symbolize the determination of the population to rebuild their homes and villages.

Yuriy Bolsa | Юрій Болса

(1997, Chervonohrad - currently resides in Kyiv and is working on a social, historical and personal project on Chervonohrad)

Untitled, from the series ‘Toy Monuments,’ May 2022
Installation; wooden objects and paint, 18 x 46 cm

Yuriy Bolsa fled to the village where he lived for the first five years of his life for shelter and to feel safe, just like when he was a child. The war affected his work to such an extent that he stopped painting. His childhood toys and books became memorials to childhood memories, now mixed with war trauma. He decided to make 'toy monuments' – memorials made of toys – to give memories a place.

Bohdan Bunchak | Богдан Бучак

(1995, Bolekhiv, Ivano-Frankivsk region, born into a family of an Orthodox priest. Currently resides in Kyiv and is a student at the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy.)

What Hinders A Sermon Becomes One, 2023
Audio piece, 60 min.

Bohdan Bunchak was wounded at the front. During his stay in the hospital, he found strength in his art and used it as a language to preach. This led to the making of a live radio broadcast in which music, words and stories about life play an important role. Although it is not a sermon in the traditional Biblical sense of the word; his work is a way for Bohdan to speak to God.

Yuliia Elyas | Юлія Еліас

(1990, Dnipro - currently resides in Utrecht working as an artist)

Offering, from the series ‘Ties of Aid,’ Summer 2022
fabric, men’s ties, 68 x 58 cm

Yuliia Elyas started a humanitarian aid center in her studio in Utrecht at the time of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Together with volunteers, she collected relief supplies such as medicine, food, clothing and hygiene products for the people in Ukraine who had to flee. The donations included a box with men’s ties and Yuliia decided to make a textile work with them. The work depicts an F-16; something that the Ukrainian army was in great need of at that time.

Zheka (Yevhen) Holubientsev | Євген Голубєнцев

(1989, Kyiv - currently resides in Bonn and Cologne. Is a contributor to Ohrenkuss Magazine and sometimes works with Ateliernormalno online)

Skeleton of Jesus, Spring 2019
Reproduction, 42x60 cm

Zheka (Yevhen) Holubientsev survived the Russian occupation of his village Vablya. Zheka is an artist with Down syndrome and is hearing impaired. His work Skeleton of Jesus shows a drawn figure of Christ on a tomb, which, according to the artist, has various layers of association: from German soldiers, war, grave monuments and Russian soldiers to drawings of crosses and the architecture of the 17th century 'Temple of the Coffin'.

Zhanna Kadyrova | Жанна Кадирова

(1981, Brovary - currently resides in Kyiv working as an artist)

Palyanytsia, Spring 2022
Cut river stones, 20 x 15 x 6 cm

Zhanna Kadyrova fled with her family to the Carpathians in the second week of the invasion. Here she found smooth, oval river stones, reminiscent of 'palyanytsia', a Ukrainian bread baked in the hearth. 'Palyanytsia' is also a word that Russians cannot pronounce without an accent; it was used to distinguish spies from real residents in the first weeks of the invasion. The stone loaves refer to Ukrainian culture and identity and Zhanna donates the proceeds from the sale to the Ukrainian army.

Alexander Krolikowski | Александер Кроліковскі

(Donetsk - currently resides in Vyshhorod. Halted his art practice to  investigate war crimes committed by the Russian army)

Death (Take A Walk In My Shoes), 2022
42 x 24 cm

Alexander Krolikowski worked as a volunteer for the morgue in Vyshhorod after the liberation of Bucha, Irpin, Borodyanka and Hostomel. To cope with the daily horrors, he made poetic impressions about death. He thought the photo he took of his shoes was very similar to Vincent van Gogh's painting A Pair of Shoes (1886) and the photo series that Andy Warhol made of his shoes (1981). After modernism and postmodernism, this photo is the next in line for Alexander: the representation of metamodernism. His shoes witness the deaths of many innocents and they symbolize for him the duality of self-preservation and self-sacrifice that characterizes this time.

Volodymyr Kuznetsov | Володимир Кузнецов

(1976, Lutsk - currently resides in Kyiv and documents Ukrainian volunteers and their movements)

The Last Judgement, from the series ‘Koliyivshchyna’, 25 July 2013
Reproduction and text, 60 x 44 cm

Volodymyr Kuznetsov created a large mural measuring 5 x 11 meters for the Great and Majestic exhibition at the Mystetskyi Arsenal National Art and Culture Museum Complex in the context of the 1025th anniversary of the early medieval Kyivan Rus Empire. The work, the third in The Last Judgment series, depicts Iryna Krashkova, a victim of police rape in 2013, with the burning Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the background. Around her are Ukrainian construction workers, members of the band Pussy Riot and Jesus Christ. Just before the opening of the exhibition, which was possibly to be visited by President Putin, the management of Mystetskyi Arsenal decided to paint over the work.

Krystyna Melnyk | Кристина Мельник

(1993, Melitopol - currently resides in Kyiv working as an artist)

Soulful, 2023
oil on wood, 23 x 39 cm

Krystyna Melnyk paints in monochrome colours and tries to create the feeling of 'the sublime' in her work as with painted icons. She works with traditional icon painting techniques such as ‘levkas’: a mixture of fine alabaster powder, calcium sulphate and traditional glue, which is applied in layers to the wood as a base layer for painting. For her, the image of the suffering body is a sacred experience.

Marharyta Polovinko | Маргарита Половінко

(1994, Kryvyi Rih - currently on the frontline as a CASEVAC military volunteer, evacuating the wounded)

Blood Drawing, 13 March 2022
Blood on paper, 40 x 29 cm

Marharyta Polovinko, working as a volunteer at the front, made this drawing with her own blood on March 13, when Russian rockets hit the city of Kharkiv. A house, containing a mother with two young children, was hit and the mother hugged the children as they died in the fire. In the drawing, Death is depicted as a small child seeking safety in the arms of an adult. The work is part of a series of drawings in blood, made in response to a collective trauma, and which resemble a continuously open wound.

Stanislav Turina | Станіслав Туріна

(1998, Makiyivka - currently resides in Kyiv and advocates for people with disabilities)

Cross of St. Peter, March 2022
artefact
part of a clothes hanger, felt tip marker and embroidery thread, 12x14 cm

Thank you (Diakuyu), 2014
artefact
felt marker on wood, 20,5 x 4,5 x 5.5 cm

Stanislav Turina fled to Kyiv shortly after the invasion in February 2022. During a visit to Mass at St. Alexander Cathedral, the priest emphasized the importance of carrying a cross and reflecting on Christ and faith. Once back at his residence, he made several crosses from everyday materials: a felt-tip pen, part of a clothes hanger and embroidery thread. Before the invasion, he used the yarn to embroider butterflies. He gave two of the three crosses to friends who are part of the Territorial Defense Forces.

The work Thank You is an artefact that symbolizes gratitude. To give to someone when you want to express extra gratitude, when you cannot afford a gift or when a compliment is not appropriate. In 2013-2014, Stanislav started making 'Thank You' drawings, later making them from wooden blocks that his father brought from work.

Tamara Turliun | Тамара Турлюн

(1995, Pavlivka, Cherkasy region - currently resides in Kyiv working as an artist and teacher)

An Angel, December 2023
paper cut-out, ‘vytynanka’ technique, 20 x 30 cm

Together with a colleague, Tamara Turliun organized from the bomb shelters shortly after the invasion online classes for children, in which they used the technique 'vytynanka', a form of paper art. All it takes is a sheet of paper to fold, and shapes can be made by cutting or tearing. The Angel paperwork was made with this technique and reflects on the question of what kind of guardian angel people in Ukraine need in the middle of a war.

Tereza Yakovyna | Тереза Яковина

(1993, Ivano-Frankivsk - currently resides and works in Berlin)

Light, from the series ‘A Note from One Evening: “Pre-war Radio”’, October 2023
power-bank, elektronic cables, glass, candle wax, 30 x 55 cm

Tereza Yakovyna refers with this work, made of candle wax, lighting and electricity, both to small actions at the kitchen table - kneading the wax by hand - against a background of major historical events and to the reality of the blackouts in Ukraine, caused by the Russian army’s attacks on power plants. The shape - a hand - refers to the physical and to human interaction, the power bank to alternative sources of electricity and light.

Albina Yaloza | Альбіна Ялоза

(1978, Kharkiv - woont en werkt in Kyiv)

Lost Paradise - Landscape Covered in Shell Craters, 2012-2022
monotype, 80x33 cm

Albina Yaloza paints landscapes that are about the search for a lost paradise, which may be very close and well-known. Such as your own backyard, the forest or the field that you see every day, or that you have walked through. The moment such a paradise is brutally destroyed, the consciousness of loss is all the more there, and people try all the more desperately to find it again.

From 27 April to 1 September, 2024, the installation Windows, Signs of Peace by artist Alevtina Kakhidze can be seen in the large display case of SCHUNCK Glaspaleis; SCHUNCK also shows her drawings on the 2nd floor in the library. What hinders a sermon becomes one can be seen at St Pancratius Church in Heerlen from Monday - Friday 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and Saturday 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.