Alexander Len. How I ______ Donbas
CURATORIAL TEXT
How I ______ Donbas is an exhibition in the form of a personal diary created by artist and soldier Alexander Len in dialogue with curator and performance artist Anastasiia Kuzmenko. It tells the story of the artist’s wartime experience: of resistance, of dust and dirt, of pain and loss, of the Ukrainian land we’ve been fighting for and reclaiming over the years of the Russian-Ukrainian war. It speaks of relocations, makeshift bases, and the search for beauty amidst the ruins of cities and lives. It also talks about freedom and dignity that will accompany us when we return home. The story is still unfolding, and it’s unclear when — or indeed how — it will end.
Through the artefacts, artworks, photographs, and audio recordings, the exhibition documents the artist’s three years in the Ukrainian army. The exhibition features geological materials, fragments of debris, the motor of an FPV drone that took the life of a fellow soldier, personal belongings, photographs taken in both de-occupied and temporarily occupied cities, as well as recordings of intercepted enemy radio transmissions. This is a sincere attempt to process and reflect on the events that changed us forever.
The blank in this title is an invitation for a dialogue with the artist, a prompt to discover his verb. As you read the memories, take in the works, view the photographs and the surrounding artefacts — what do you hear?
Aleksander Len is an artist and curator, born in Kyiv in 1998. He is a member of the art group Three Practices of Realism and co-founder of the curatorial project bezzvuchno do hlukhoty (soundless to deafness). Together with Anastasiia Kuzmenko, he organises charity exhibitions in support of ongoing fundraising campaigns for the combat unit in which he serves. He is a student at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (his studies are currently on hold due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He’s been serving in the National Guard of Ukraine since April 13, 2022). His artistic projects have been presented in Ukraine, Germany, France, and Switzerland. He was a participant in the 2023 Kyiv Biennial (Lublin, Poland). He lives and works in Kyiv.
Anastasiia Kuzmenko is a cultural project manager with a focus on urban culture and local communities. She holds a BA and MA in Cultural Studies from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, where she researched urban sociology, particularly the revitalization of industrial areas and graffiti culture. She has been a co-founder and curator of the art and volunteer initiative bezzvuchno do hlukhoty (soundless to deafness), organizing charity exhibitions in support of combat units in collaboration with artist and serviceman Alexander Len.
Curator: Anastasiia Kuzmenko
Project managers: Anastasiia Garazd, Illia Turyhin
Mentoring: Natasha Chychasova
Graphic design: Ihor Tymoshchuk
Text editing: Oleksandra Pogrebnyak
Translation: Burshtyna Tereshchenko
The exhibition How I ______ Donbas will open at 5:00 p.m. on August 21 and last until September 14, 2025,
in the Mala Gallery (Lavrska St., 10)
Working hours: Wednesday to Sunday, from 12:00 to 19:00
Free admission
❗ We care about everyone’s safety, so in case of an air raid alert, the exhibition will be closed. At this time, you can go to the nearest shelter. The exhibition will start working after the end of an air raid alert.