Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

A prayer in one’s own words

“I AM IN CHRIST” exhibition of embossed fabrics created by Kateryna Haneichuk presented at the Zelena Kanapa Gallery in Lviv
6 September, 2017 - 17:00

The artist creates her works on homespun cloth. For this purpose, she uses ancient Ukrainian weaving techniques and creates sacred symbols endowed with Ukrainian meanings.

The exhibition shows off works created by the artist during the last few years. Actually, this is due to the fact that the artist turned to embossing and stenciling only recently, namely during the Revolution of Dignity. She had to do many copies during that time. It was physically very difficult. Therefore, stenciling and embossing became the most optimal solution to the problem.

Concerning the Ukrainian name of the exhibition (“EVKHRYSTIYA”), many may assume that there is a spelling mistake in it. However, it is a neologism coined by Haneichuk herself. Like every conscious artist, she brings her unique vision to the world. Artists turn to various components of human nature and consciousness. Haneichuk chose the latter’s spiritual part for herself.

“Almost all my creative quests focus on the theme of spirit, soul, and heart. It is neither good nor bad, it is just my thoughts that have led me to it. All of art is essentially sacred. I did not immediately realize it, the understanding only came with time. Even when photographing grass, I called it The Life of Herbs, as in ‘the life of a saint.’ It is all mine, personal and not canonical, like a prayer in one’s own words. Yes, I call myself a freethinker and not a religious person, but I am still a believer. I made these banners from old homespun cloth and I am sure that it adds to my work some energy which is alive and good as it comes from human hands that worked on every yarn of this cloth. I embossed holy faces and halos with raw potatoes, like people did from ancient times, but I used modern paint. I used minimalist but symbolic colors and modular repeats for it and sew it with a red thread. I put in this work my long-standing idea of the depths of our language. I came up with the title and I am glad that EUCHARIST sounds similar to EUCHRIST whose Ukrainian equivalent YEVKHRYSTIYA can be disassembled as YE V KHRYSTI YA, that is, I AM IN CHRIST. Although the priests will tell you that no Ukrainian meaning can be present in this case, because the word is Greek,” said the artist.

The exhibition will be open till September 17.

By Pavlo PALAMARCHUK, Lviv
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