Olia Kravchyshyna
Still from ‘Fruits of Life’, 2022.
Olia Kravchyshyna is a Ukrainian contemporary multimedia artist born in Kyiv, Ukraine. Olia trained in painting at the Freie Kunstschule Stuttgart in Germany, and received an BFA in Political Science at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Drawing inspiration from myths and fairy tales, Olia creates deeply intimate artworks exploring her inner world and her relationship to femininity. Across painting, sculpture, and video performance, Olia’s work examines and celebrates women’s experiences and sexuality, and advocates for self-love, joy, and tenderness. Olia now lives and works as a full-time artist between Kyiv and Hamburg.
‘Dance with the shadow’, oil on canvas, 2023.
Hi Olia! Can you tell me a bit about where you are writing to me from?
Hi Eliza! I now have the great happiness of writing to you from my native and free city of Kyiv, Ukraine. It is spring in Kyiv, and from the window of my apartment I can see a large garden of blooming cherry trees. I feel incredibly happy to be home.
What kind of themes or ideas do you like to explore in your work?
In my work themes of self-love, dreams, spiritual healing, and gaining strength through pleasure and love are very closely intertwined. Ever since my childhood, I have drawn inspiration from an imaginary fairy-tale world inspired by nature, which is rich in colours and wonders. After going through difficult times, I realised that the world of my fantasies and dreams, my big heart, and self-acceptance are the driving forces of my life. I'm currently working on a series in which I talk about individuality, love, the wonder of being a woman, sensitivity, feeling intuitively, seeing with the heart, and enjoying yourself and your body. Through my work, I want to warmly hug a woman who also often finds it difficult to feel her strength and love herself. The world dictates to women very specific frameworks—what we should be, how we should live, what we should want. Through my work, I seem to want to say: ‘we can be free, wild, and happy; we deserve to be ourselves’.
Where did your journey as an artist begin? Were you creative from a young age?
Yes, from early childhood I loved to paint and make various magical secrets. I have always been very inspired by illustrated books with fairy tales, cartoons and theatre. Creating my own stories through my art gave me the feeling that I had magical power—that I was a witch using real magic. However, my path as an artist turned out to be difficult. I was born in post-Soviet Ukraine, in which the career of an artist was the last thing an ordinary family could think about. In my family, as in many others, there was only one dream for a child—a good job and a stable income. So it took years of studying in a major that wasn't close to me, moving away from my parents, experiencing depression, and finally using spiritual therapy to break that cycle and dare to live differently. Now my art is experiencing a renaissance; I have recently returned to painting and I feel very strong.
A lot of your work is inspired by myths and fairy tales—what draws you to these kinds of stories and images?
I am attracted to miracles, in which I will never stop believing. But, of course, I am also inspired by the characters—most of them are strong-spirited and magical women. A woman is a miracle of the universe. Her body and beauty, her sensitivity to the other world, her connection with the subconscious, her dreams, and her gift of intuition has fascinated and inspired me since childhood. Thus, in my imagination, these images of heroines began to intertwine with the image of myself, and the miracles that heroines do in fairy tales intertwined with my own powers and the way I see the world. It is natural for me to look at the world through the prism of magic and wonder, and this is something I owe to the huge shelf of fairy tale books that I had as a child.
Stills from ‘Fruits of Life’, 2022.
‘Sphinx’, oil on canvas, 2023.
‘Sphinx and her shadow side’, menstrual blood, 2022.
Your piece ‘Sphinx and her shadow side’ depicts a female sphinx painted in your own menstrual blood. What was your intention with this piece, and what was it like using this medium?
This work was a manifestation of my dream state and is a riddle of desire. This work was born even before I painted ‘Sphinx’ with oil paints. In my work, the sphinx represents gaining strength through trusting one's own intuition and having the courage to follow one's heart—to follow the path of pleasure. The sphinx appears as a being who has known secret wisdom—a woman at the peak of bliss and peace. Whilst creating this work, I thought about the strength and wisdom of following my desires and instincts, and felt a deep connection with myself. Blood acts as a symbol of initiation—it unites my intentions and dreams with my body and its gifts; it consolidates the magic of the sphinx with the magic of my own body, expressed in the sacred blood of female menstruation.
What does your creative process tend to look like?
I work very intuitively, paying a lot of attention to my dreams, as well as thoughts and symbols that come to me. A plot or an idea doesn't come all at once—it’s usually an image that I've had in my subconscious for some time, that I slowly start to realise and think about. This is how the plot is born, or at least, the initial feeling that I intend to bring to life.
In your last project, ‘Fantasia’, you created a range of brightly-coloured and whimsical sculptural objects in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Could you talk a bit about this project?
Yes, I especially love this project, it shines like a little star in my heart. The first two months of the war were… Here, I can't express how painful, how scary, how many tears and sleepless nights there were, how many lives lost. There can be no description of this state. I couldn't do anything but watch the news and cry. I felt completely empty inside. I couldn't create anything—my artistic practice is always about love and light, but in that time the light seemed to leave me. ‘Fantasia’ became my protest against horror and death. I wanted only expressions of rainbows and joy, so as not to lose my mind somehow. I remembered everything I love—nature, people, laughter, hugs, and I transferred these emotions into the physical world. No plot, no deep meaning, just colour. I made everyday objects in order to incorporate these emotions into our lives. So now every time I light a candle on my homemade colourful candle holder, I remember what we continue to fight for, what drives me, and what Russia will never be able to destroy—love, joy, laughter, light, life.
If you can find the words, what has it been like to be an artist in the middle of an ongoing war? Has your relationship to art-making changed?
Yes, there was a change in attitude to art practice as a continuation of the change in attitude to life. There is no more time to hesitate, fear, or doubt. The life given to me is here and now, and this deep realisation changed everything. This gratitude for life became a driving force in my life during these terrible times, as well as in the lives of many Ukrainians.
Objects from ‘Fantasia’, mixed media, 2022.
‘Underwater treasure’, mixed media, 2022.
‘True treasure’, mixed media, 2022.
Do you have some favourite artists that inspire you?
Among other female artists, I am particularly inspired by the works of surrealist women like Frida Kahlo, Leonor Fini, Leonora Carrington, and Dora Maar.
Where would you like to see your art go next? Do you already have some new projects in mind?
I am currently working on a series of paintings I plan to call ‘Garden’, in which I will collect all the main experiences, feelings, and dreams that I have lived and gained in my quarter of age. The gates of this garden will be open to everyone who sees the beauty, majesty, and power of a woman. Among other things, I dream of holding a personal exhibition of this series in my hometown of Kyiv in the future, and inviting everyone who is interested in my art, especially my family and friends.