Kateryna Pokora. Stagnant Waters
Kateryna Pokora
Stagnant Waters
09.04.2026 — 03.05.2026
Author's text
It’s the start of August. I am returning home.
My return is always followed by a visit to the water. The longer my absence, the stronger the desire to see the water in all its breadth — it becomes a marker of home. Located 20 kilometres away from our house is the "Kremenchuk Sea", a reservoir built on the Dnipro River in the 1960s. In August, you can already smell it from 19 kilometres away: it is sulfuric and grassy, without a trace of saltiness. To come here in August means to meet the "sea" in its true bloom. A green mass of dense water is washed onto the shore by the waves, leaving lines in the sand, like a streak of zelenka (brilliant green antiseptic) on wounded skin.
I love to follow the tracks of happenstance that brought me here. Who was part of that happenstance? What was found in between? How many random events happened at once? All the histories and stories are so tightly interwoven. Stories I was once lucky to stumble upon still continue beneath our feet, underwater. It seems that the landscape holds all of them. This story, as well, like many others, started with returning to the same scenery. The water is what was in between every one of those stories. It acted as the medium, retelling them to each other.
It is still the same landscape.
Through my artistic practice, I explore the expressive technicality of the matter* — the way in which a nonhuman witness can speak of a violation through demonstration and the production of evidence. A desire to look at something smaller, much smaller than an eye can see, might be a change I have fostered in myself in recent years. That is, attentiveness to any manifestation of life. All this prompts me to reflect on the role of humans in these processes.
When I return to the landscape that stands before me, I seek to explore its transformations. The decompositions and metamorphoses that have already taken place or keep unfolding unnoticed. I am interested in history, causes, and markers that allow us to recognise the scale and nature of these changes. To look at damage is not only an act of observation, but also a search for understanding: what must be destabilised, broken down or transformed further to enable true healing. An image of a "damaged landscape" evokes a vision of an earth where there is no place for life: an apocalyptic scene in its present moment. The landscape that stands before me is tranquil, motionless; the still surface of the water merges with the sky (as is characteristic of the "sea"). Yet the damage is clear beneath the water, visible through the fluctuations in its level. It leaves bright green traces in the sand. This colour marks a deviation from the norm: a healing that did not take place.
*Susan Schuppli. Material Witness: Media, Forensics, Evidence. 1994
Curator: Illia Turyhin
Kateryna Pokora is a multidisciplinary artist from Kremenchuk, currently living and working in Lviv. In her practice, she explores the relationship between humans and the environment, focusing on their interdependence and vulnerability. The artist examines landscape as a representative form that reveals the social relations hidden within it. Her practice problematises the anthropocentric perspective — a worldview that sees landscapes and ecosystems not as autonomous worlds but as resources for use and exploitation. Through her works, she strives to delineate opportunities for coexistence, recognising that humans are inextricably woven into the fabric of living. She employs various media, in particular installation, objects, photography, and graphics.
The exhibition Stagnant Waters will open on April 9 at 6 PM and last until May 3, 2026, at the Mala Gallery (Ivan Mazepa St., 28)
Opening hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 12:00–19:00. Admission is free
❗ 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.