Yana Bachynska, “Ukrainian History Through Masks”, workshop

Workshop looks into the transformation of textile as a conduit of memories into masks, exploring Ukrainian history from 1991 to today. The artist offers to start by acknowledging the resourcefulness of grandmothers, who, during the era of planned economies, couldn't easily acquire the clothing they desired. Instead, they turned to mass sewing, a practice born out of necessity. The workshop will touch upon 1990s crisis when people compulsively preserved tons of clothing, fearing its scarcity, and at the same time delve into the realm of national attire, which started to be worn freely during the same period, not just on stage with official party approval. Finally, the artist offers to explore the contemporary era, where diving into a vast sea of second-hand clothing allows us to travel the world vicariously, guided by labels that read "Made in...". All of these stories reflect the pursuit of freedom, a theme that has inspired Bachynska's interest in clothing as a form of protest. Ultimately, we'll see how the street attire can be transformed into a performance and how the clothing becomes a sculpture.