In Siena is Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova with an exhibition on war

On the occasion of the third edition of CORTEMPORANEA, Palazzo Chigi Zondadari opens from June 27 to Dec. 8, 2024 Devil of Comparisons, the solo exhibition of Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova in collaboration with Galleria Continua, curated by Massimiliano Bastardo. The project, created at the behest of Flavio Misciattelli, president of the Fondazione Palazzo Chigi Zondadari, invites Italian and international artists to interpret and create site-specific works in the courtyard and central hall of Palazzo Chigi Zondadari, in Siena’s Piazza del Campo.

When the everyday is altered by external conditions, that is when its narrative becomes detailed: objects, images, places, take on new meanings, become contemporary archeology of aesthetics and emergence.

Zhanna Kadyrova’s practice is bare corollary of violence and resistance, of usurped culture, of daily hopes and memories passed down. Through sculpture, installations, photography and other mixtures of elements such as glass, stone, ceramics, the Ukrainian artist speaks of the present by giving meanings and values to each object put on display. The fundamental concept is not interpretable but concrete in its fleshly rhythm.

Space, time, History, are fundamental pillars from which to act in order to communicate. Empathy, pain, resilience are emotions that lead to a repeated reflection on the war in her beloved homeland.

Kadyrova is a messenger of a humanitarian and social art that does not mince words, but, indeed, does not hide reality, declares it openly for what it is through her works. Being forced to emigrate westward with the beginning of the war in 2022, to the village of Berezovo, was a choice as painful as it was necessary, but as the days went by, the determination grew in her to do everything she could, to return to Kiev and make her voice heard, faltering at first but continuing to be an artist who through all kinds of gestures spreads and defends.

The exhibition created for the rooms of Palazzo Chigi Zondadari brings with it a poignant sensitivity about the daily life that has been affectingUkraine for more than two years due to occupation by Russia. Each work - site-specific and ready-made - describes the bitter outcome of the conflict: each message inherent in it spreads fear and faith, help and courage, leaving the viewer wondering how art can be a manifestation of justice and enlisted to leave a different meaning.

On the occasion of Zhanna Kadyrova’s solo exhibition at Palazzo Chigi Zondadari on June 28, 2024, the Ukrainian artist presents a special project related to the Museum of Sacred Art in Buonconvento, sponsored by the Fondazione Musei Senesi. On display are three works including one from the series Palianytsia - meaning bread in Ukrainian - in dialogue with the collection of the Mezzadria Museum located in Buonconvento. The idea is to create a dialogue between works from the collections of the museums of Fondazione Musei Senesi and contemporary art, imagining museums not only as places where history is told, but also as spaces that welcome contemporary creativity. In this way, new perspectives and interpretations of cultural heritage are generated, connecting the museums of the FMS network with prestigious places of cultural production in the territory, such as the Fondazione Palazzo Chigi Zondadari.

Zhanna Kadyrova was born in 1981 in Brovary in the Kiev region of Ukraine. She currently lives and works in Kiev. Kadyrova has had great success nationally and internationally, participating in biennials and individual and group exhibitions in about 15 countries. In 2019, she participated in the Venice Biennale in the exhibition May You Live In Interesting Times. He also represented Ukraine at the Biennale in 2013. Since the invasion by Russia in 2022, Zhanna Kadyrova’s work has focused on the effects of the war. During this period she also began working on the humanitarian project Palianytsia. Recent solo exhibitions include Unexpected at Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic, 2024, and Border Memory at Uppsala Art Museum, Uppsala, Sweden, 2024. Daily Bread was the artist’s first major retrospective, held in 2023 at Kunstverein, Hannover. In the same year, the solo exhibition Flying Trajectories was presented at the PinchukArtCentre in Kiev. Kadyrova is participating in the PinchukArt Centre curated collateral exhibition From Ukraine: Dare to Dream at the 60th. Venice Biennale now underway.

For all information, visit the official website of Palazzo Chigi Zondadari.

Pictured: Zhanna Kadyrova, Refugees 22 (2024)

In Siena is Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova with an exhibition on war

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