After a break of one and a half years, ARTbasement, which currently serves as a shelter, with attention to the safety of the artist, employees, visitors: friends of the gallery and fans of art, opens its doors, presenting the project “Victory Land” by Kharkiv Yanks of Victoria Khoroshilova.

Since 2014, Victoria’s life has been full of volunteer activities. The war, on an emotional level, created a need for creative self-expression in Victoria. After several months of being in the west of Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale conflict, Victoria, unable to be far from her native land, returned to Kharkiv, to her 602nd micro-district, with an uncontrollable desire to depict on canvas the reality in which we live. The artist painted pictures of the city landscape during shelling, under the illumination of lanterns. I wrote quickly while there was water in the tap so that I could wash the tools after work. During active shelling, she wrapped her works in blankets to protect them from possible damage. Victoria came to Northern Saltivka together with the military, to a mined zone. She walked past the ruins of buildings, watching the rays of the sun break through the broken windows. All this in order to convey Kharkiv in its double reality on his canvases – with empty streets, but together with the image of the first tram that moved along Northern Saltivka after the terrible shelling. She skillfully embodies the darkness of the windows of the houses, but at the same time tells about the bright rays of the sun on the horizon. Paintings of Victoria is a city with wounds, but this is our land, strong, determined and ready to win!

Dedicated to the City Day and the Independence Day of Ukraine!

The author of the text and the coordinator of the exhibition is Daria Gerasimova