Constructing Hope: Ukraine
Center for Architecture, New York.
2024
Chicago Architecture Center.
2025
Center for Architecture, New York.
2024
Chicago Architecture Center.
2025
Visual Identity
Exhibition Design
Exhibition Design
The exhibition highlights new architectural practices for Ukraine’s
reconstruction. A cross-shaped adhesive tape, used to prevent glass
shattering, symbolizes war’s impact and civilian protection.
Echoing traditional Ukrainian embroidery, it ties to cultural heritage.
Bespoke letters paired with accessible fonts reflect the rough,
urgent repair of damaged street signs, emphasizing speed and
functionality over perfection during the war.
Curators: Ashley Bigham, Betty Roytburd,
Sasha Topolnytska
Photo: Matthew Carasella, Jenna Bascom,
Sasha Topolnytska
More info:
Center for Architecture︎︎︎
The New York Times: How Architecture Became
One of Ukraine’s Essential Defenses︎︎︎
Surface: In Ukraine, Architecture
Embodies Hope and Resilience ︎︎︎
The Brooklyn Rail: Constructing Hope: Ukraine ︎︎︎
City of Forms is an art project that explores urban
landscape and its inherent potential to generate new
graphic systems and meanings. This exploration is deeply
rooted in the unique characteristics of each city, reflecting
its individual landscape and architectural structures.
The project delves into various themes, including the
preservation of cultural heritage, the interplay of distance
and time, the role of memory, and the celebration of female
creativity. These themes are articulated through diverse
mediums such as printed textiles, printed paper, lighting
installations, and digital formats, each medium contributing
to the author’s expressive narrative.
The journey of City of Forms began in 2018 in Kyiv,
Ukraine, and has since expanded to include work done
in Prague, Dnipro, and Chicago. Each city's distinct identity
and cultural context have provided a rich tapestry of
inspiration, allowing the project to evolve and adapt
continuously.
Chapter 1. Kyiv
UFO / Тarilka
The conference hall of the Scientific and Technical Library
and the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information
(1971, architect Florian Yuriev) resembles a "UFO" and
features unique acoustic and lighting capabilities.
The rhythm and form of the font "UFO" echo the propagation
of sound and the spread of color in the conference hall,
which, according to the architect’s design, was intended to
become a modern theater of a new type – the Light Theater.
The usage of the woodblock printing technique on textiles
emphasizes the significance of rhythm and the density
of color, creating a sense of presence at the performance
in the Light Theater.
Cotton textile, woodblock printing, 2×1,5m.
Photos by: Yaroslav Solop, Oleksandr Ranchukov.
Presented at the Dutch Design Week. 2018.
#savekyivmodernism
UFO / Тarilka
The conference hall of the Scientific and Technical Library
and the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information
(1971, architect Florian Yuriev) resembles a "UFO" and
features unique acoustic and lighting capabilities.
The rhythm and form of the font "UFO" echo the propagation
of sound and the spread of color in the conference hall,
which, according to the architect’s design, was intended to
become a modern theater of a new type – the Light Theater.
The usage of the woodblock printing technique on textiles
emphasizes the significance of rhythm and the density
of color, creating a sense of presence at the performance
in the Light Theater.
Cotton textile, woodblock printing, 2×1,5m.
Photos by: Yaroslav Solop, Oleksandr Ranchukov.
Presented at the Dutch Design Week. 2018.
#savekyivmodernism
Chapter 2. Prague
Lehkost [Lightness], Textual artwork as part of
Facade Project series.
Large-format light installation Lehkost [Lightness]
on the façade of what was formerly Prague’s Zenger
electrical substation. The work alludes to both the
brutalist architecture of Karel Prager and Milan Kundera’s
famous novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Photo by Kryštof Kříž.
Kunsthalle Praha. 2020.
More info︎︎︎
Lehkost [Lightness], Textual artwork as part of
Facade Project series.
Large-format light installation Lehkost [Lightness]
on the façade of what was formerly Prague’s Zenger
electrical substation. The work alludes to both the
brutalist architecture of Karel Prager and Milan Kundera’s
famous novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Photo by Kryštof Kříž.
Kunsthalle Praha. 2020.
More info︎︎︎
Chapter 3. Dnipro
For the project One Alphabet and Project Compositions,
the Summer Theater on Water in Lazar Hloba Park (Dnipro, Ukraine),
along with its reflection in the water, serves
as a central graphic element. The building becomes
a foundation for generating new shapes and meanings,
transforming into graphic forms.
Through this process, the structure takes
on new significance, extending its presence
in a reimagined visual context.
Silkscreen print, textiles, video, motion graphics.
Artsvit gallery, Dnipro. 2021.
more info︎︎︎
Chapter 4. Chicago
Formation of Time project is a series of twelve numerical
graphic sets created in response to architectural
structures in downtown Chicago, reflections on forms
as abstract and concrete signifiers of complex
information across distance and time.
Prints, Artist Book, Digital Clock.
The John David Mooney Foundation,
Chicago. 2023
Formation of Time project is a series of twelve numerical
graphic sets created in response to architectural
structures in downtown Chicago, reflections on forms
as abstract and concrete signifiers of complex
information across distance and time.
Prints, Artist Book, Digital Clock.
The John David Mooney Foundation,
Chicago. 2023
Numbers are specific and relatively universal—to count
is to quantify, track, attempt to know, and understand.
Looking at it another way, a number is an abstraction.
When considered in the context of Solomadina and her
family’s displacement from their home country,
Formation of Time is a powerful meditation on the capacity
of graphic forms to convey and contain complex information
across distance and time, and on an artist’s search for
new creative processes in the wake of personal
and political upheaval.
Frances Lightbound, сurator
Bettter. Upcycling System
Bettter is the first system of upcycled clothing
that operates as a multifaceted platform with
a shared purpose.
Bettter.
2020
Bettter is the first system of upcycled clothing
that operates as a multifaceted platform with
a shared purpose.
Bettter.
2020
Design for Online Campaigns.
Layouts: Drop_00_vol2 / Drop_00_vol3 / Drop_01
Layouts: Drop_00_vol2 / Drop_00_vol3 / Drop_01
Poetry and Performance.
The Eastern European Perspective
Dnipro Center for Contemporary Culture.
Dnipro. 2021
The Eastern European Perspective
Dnipro Center for Contemporary Culture.
Dnipro. 2021
Exhibition Visual Identity
The visual concept for the exhibition Poetry & Performance draws
from the artworks it showcases. Rhythmic lines, resembling text lines,
symbolize an imagined narrative uniting all pieces. The graphic overlay
of Перформанс and Performance reflects a performative approach,
offering a glimpse into the visual poetry explored in the exhibition.
Curators: Sabine Hansgen, Tomas Glanc, Kateryna Rusetska,
Yuri Birte Anderson. In cooperation with Yaroslav Futymskyi.
Kaleidoscope of Histories. Ukrainian Art. 1912-2023
Albertinum, Dresden.
2023
Exhibition views: Photos by Oliver Killig
Albertinum, Dresden.
2023
Exhibition views: Photos by Oliver Killig
Exhibition Design
Art Direction
Art Direction
The main form, a lined-out square, references the work of
Ukrainian avant-garde artist Vasyl Yermilov (1894–1968).
It is a unifying symbol, connecting images and information from
different epochs in Ukraine’s history. This graphic form runs
through the entire identity, acting as a modular grid for layouts,
and signage, and offering versatile configurations for
developing additional graphic elements
Ukrainian avant-garde artist Vasyl Yermilov (1894–1968).
It is a unifying symbol, connecting images and information from
different epochs in Ukraine’s history. This graphic form runs
through the entire identity, acting as a modular grid for layouts,
and signage, and offering versatile configurations for
developing additional graphic elements
Watch online lectures︎︎︎
Curators: Tatiana Kochubinska, Maria Isserlis
Designers: Alexandra Karpova, typesetting for the exhibition walls;
Harald Slaterus, catalog design (Museum de Fundatie, Waanders Publishers,
Zwolle; Staatliche Kunstssammlungen Dresden)
More info︎︎︎