Wiktoria Wojciechowska’s Sparks is an interdisciplinary project portraying the war in Donbas.
Created between winter 2014 and summer 2016 the project is centered around a series of portraits of young, regular people, coming from different backgrounds, who had to leave their lives and go to the frontline, become soldiers of war.
Sparks, presented in numerous exhibitions around the world, were mediating the conflict and the personal experience of the people involved in it, mostly without their intention, around the world. It has advocated the regular people’s suffering and trauma gained in the effect of this tragic war, to the international audiences and public opinion. Yet, it has never been presented in Ukraine, to the people who took part in it and shared their personal stories. The exhibition at Lviv Art Center is the first public presentation of the Sparks in Ukraine, an occasion to fill this gap and thank the participants for their generous involvement.
Seven years have passed since the project started and both the war and the portrayed soldiers are in a different place and situation in their lives. Having come back from the frontline they had to find themselves in civilian, everyday life. The exhibition at Lviv Art Center aims to underline the aftermath of the fighting experience in the lives of those who had to take the arms. The public programme will include not only artistic discussions and guided tours, but also events focused at the mental condition and psychological cost paid by the former soldiers.
