It’s evening in Kyiv and Masha Reva is sitting in the office of FORMA studio, the architecture group constructing the space for i am u are, a creator’s fair for Ukrainian artists that opens today in New York and lasts through the weekend. The protean Odessa-born artist has previously created costumes and scenery for the ballet The Rite at London Royal Opera House, worked on an editorial series of silhouettes made of paper and perspex with Jacquemus and, a month into the Russia-Ukraine war, created a long-distance full-room mural for Harry Styles’ music video “As It Was.” Now, she’s working with her partner, painter Ivan Grabko, to create a platform to empower the Ukrainian creative economy.
Masha and Ivan came up with the concept for i am u are last summer. When the full-scale invasion started, “first, we were frozen,” Masha says. They moved west, to a safer part of the country, and the first months there were too terrifying to yield any creativity. “We started to try new roles,” Masha says. As creatives themselves, they were wrestling with how to assist Ukraine’s artistic community. Last year, they hosted an exhibition and charity event in Berlin. Under The Open Sky was organized in just over a month by Masha and friends, presented in the studio of German artist Jonas Bugert over five days. “It’s a kind of therapy, I would say, because when you find you can focus, you realize that it’s useful and you can kind of handle all this crazy shit more easily,” Masha says.
The goal of i am u are is to represent Ukraine and over 100 of its cross-disciplinary talents through a three-day bonanza (with an online component for those outside the city), heightening Ukraine’s investment appeal. By building a platform, there’s a means to help everyone from painters to jewelry designers showcase their work and find new audiences and clients. “The Ukrainian community really needs help right now, not only on the battlefield, but also businesses, and small companies and just individuals,” Masha says. “The main idea of this event is that Ukraine is not a problem, but a solution. We have many talented people out here, and we just want to show the world that Ukraine is really diverse.”
Ivan was in charge of envisioning the concept and curating an art exhibition, while Masha acted as creative director and curated a photo exhibition alongside i am u are founders Anna Pagava (CEO of Gogola Agency) and Kristina Skripka. Mixing contemporary and heritage elements, the setting functions as a showcase and a pop-up store. In a wider sense, Masha deems it a “collective portrait.” For the photography exhibition, the photographers are friends or people she knows: Lesha Berezovskiy, Kristina Podobed, Mishka Bochkarev, Kris Voitkiv, Vadim Khudoliy, amongst them. The only criteria was that the pictures had to have been taken in Ukraine. “When we started to get portfolios, I saw that there is one line that goes through each work… [whether] a documentation of the protests or just a still picture of beautiful nature: it’s really kind of dark and poetic.” She added: “it’s my taste, because I really like everything mysterious. And I think Ukraine is a mysterious land.” The photographers are roughly between the ages of 25-35, and Masha notes: “I’m trying to analyze what it’s like to look at Ukraine with the eyes of people who are about the same age as independent Ukraine.” There are some political images in the mix of landscapes and portraits and nudes, but the intention is not to make a sad exhibition — Masha emphasized: “I just want to show a really charming portrait of the land I love.”
Art can have a healing effect on the person making it, and it also function as a form of activism. “We have really devastating things going on… we can help raise money and help people and it’s win-win because we spread awareness.” Masha reflected on the struggle of what it means to help: “Back in spring, I was in this really frustrated state of mind, like, Am I a fighter? Am I a volunteer? But you know, the creative community is really strong. Of course, some people find energy to help as volunteers. But in our case, we are trying to be as effective as possible. We came up with this idea, and it really supported many of our participants psychologically, because people are losing their senses, losing energy. They don’t know if they have [what it takes] to continue or if it is that important to keep on creating. Our team was trying to support participants by just texting, you don’t have to stop, we will be waiting, just continue. Let’s try this. It was a beautiful situation: we were helping each other. Not only because we want to go somewhere and exhibit it, but also because we just have this need of not stopping. Many people kept on doing what they did — they didn’t give up.”
The event is contained within an architectural concept by FORMA studio, housed at Skylight at Essex Crossing on Broome Street. (The architects are renowned for building sets for techno parties in Ukraine—the scene grew powerfully after the revolution in 2014.) It’s a two-floor space, with the entrance on the top floor yielding a bird’s eye view of what’s being shown below. Downstairs, the space will be divided by sections — tradition, craft, fashion — where people can buy things from gold rings (by Guzema fine jewelry) to rugs made using a local Carpathian weaving tradition (by Basny) to candelabras (by Hutsul Authentica) to ceramic vases (by Gorn). Meanwhile, the money raised will go to an organization to rebuild a destroyed library, as well as to United24, which is President Zelensky’s official distribution of the funds for humanitarian needs.
“It’s really important to focus on beauty, on something inspiring,” Masha emphasized. “We are looking to the future, and we are getting inspired by what surrounds us.”
Credits
Images courtesy of i am u are.