PinchukArtCentre unveils 'Joy' amidst the realities of war

The exhibition Joy began with an urge to start a conversation about what sustains Ukrainians today, how many forms joy can take in times of war, and how it becomes a driving force—one that unites us, sustains us, and keeps our sense of self and will to live intact. The starting point of the project was a series of written testimonies collected by Ukrainian veteran and marine Hlib Stryzhko. He conducted interviews with service members, veterans—both men and women—of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to learn what brings them joy and how they experience it today. Their stories become a disruptive agent, anchoring fragments of reality into the exhibition. Against the violence saturating our time, it offers joy and the sharing of joy as a radical act of humanity. Architect and artist Bogdana Kosmina transformed these texts into spatial objects that are just as significant within the exhibition as the works