Dates: 26.10-8.12.2024, 10 am-6 pm

Venues: BSCC - St. John's Centre

Admission: free

Vernissage: 26.10.2024, godz. 6 pm

THE PASSAGE OF TIME

Just as unnecessary parts are removed from a paper cutting, only the most important events and periods remain in history. The papercut artist Daria Alyoshkina creates large-format compositions – often over two meters in size – that reflect the moments of greatest significance for the Ukrainian nation. Over the past decade, Ukrainians have rediscovered their culture, which has become the foundation of their fighting spirit. The exhibition titled “The Passage of Time” comprises more than 20 large-format paper cuttings which capture the moments that shaped Ukraine as a nation and a state.

PAPERCUTTING

The art of papercutting probably originated in China, where paper was first developed, and thanks to its extraordinary beauty and ability to convey an abundance of meaning in a symbolic way, it travelled across Asian countries to reach Europe. Papercutting is a traditional decorative art which is currently experiencing a renaissance, particularly in Ukraine.

Paper cuttings were initially used to decorate houses, windows and walls for special occasions. They could be used to illustrate situations such as births, weddings and other special events in the village. Thus, they served as a kind of chronicle of each community, created with extraordinary precision and admirable spatial arrangement. Paper cuttings feature animal and human figures interspersed with floral and plant motifs as well as geometric shapes, which add openwork lightness to the design. 

Traditional papercutting involves folding a sheet at least four times and cutting shapes in it so that a symmetrical image is created once the paper is unfolded. Today, when papercutting is more than just a pastime and a way to decorate one’s house, papercut artists use various materials and professional tools. 

DARIA ALYOSHKINA

Daria Alyoshkina was born on March 5, 1982 in Kiev, to a family of sculptors Oleksiy and Lyudmila Alyoshkin. In 2007, she graduated from the Lviv National Academy of Art with a master's degree in monumental and decorative sculpture. She became interested in papercutting in her childhood, as she grew up in Podolia, where the art is still alive. However, Alyoshkina adopted a modern approach to papercutting: her works impress not only with the precision of execution on large-format material, but also with the stories and emotions they depict.

What viewers might find surprising is the fact that Alyoshkina employs the most traditional papercutting technique. Daria Alyoshkina folds her huge sheets of material as if they were small pieces of paper, and then cuts out a precisely planned pattern in them, which makes her works beautifully symmetrical. Once unfolded, the canvas, which at this stage looks like an extraordinary large petal, reveals an intricate lace depicting figures, shapes and stories.

In her artistic career, Daria Alyoshkina has created hundreds of square meters of papercut images. All her patterns are unique, because they are created on the basis of live, improvised sketch drawings. The artist likes to experiment with modern materials that make it possible to form installations, theatrical scenery, as well as ornamental elements in public and home spaces from decorative canvases. The secret of this technique is the lace-like intricacy of Alyoshkina’s works, which really impress the observer with their scale and the subtle play of shadows appearing in various lighting. The motifs used in the cuttings go back to the deepest roots of traditional aesthetics, while receiving an original contemporary interpretation.

A Lviv-based artist, Daria Alyoshkina adapted folk art to contemporary needs of not only interior decoration but also artistic expression and even commentary on current events.

Since 1996, the artist has actively participated in exhibitions and symposia (over thirty symposia in Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania). Daria Alyoshkina is a highly prolific artist. Her sculptures decorate cities such as Kiev, Lviv, Chornomorsk, Zhovkva, Kolomyia, Svaliava, Kalush and Gdańsk (Poland). Since 2010, she has represented Ukraine at international events, exhibiting her monumental paper-cut art in Poland, Germany, France, South Korea, Canada, USA, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark and other countries. Alyoshkina’s works have twice adorned the Ukrainian stand at the famous “Livre Paris” book forum in Paris, and in 2018 her paper cuttings were used as a decoration of a Cartier boutique. In 2018 she used her paper cuttings to decorate the Ukrainian display at Maison et Objet during the Paris Design Week event. The year 2019 marked her collaboration with the French designer Issabel Daëron: decorating windows and preparing an exhibition of paper cuttings at the UN headquarters in Switzerland. In 2020 she was invited by the Michelangelo Foundation to participate in the Craftsmanship Biennale in Venice. In 2021, a solo exhibition of her paper cuttings was held in Nice, France. Last year she also presented an exhibition titled “Perspective of the Future: 30 Vogue UA Covers by Ukrainian Artists” at M17 Contemporary Art Centre in Kiev, and also displayed her works at the Art Picnic in Krakow. Her artistic achievements include an exhibition of paper cuttings during Paris Design Week at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Paris, an exhibition at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nice in Nice, France, and a papercutting exhibition at the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum of Lviv.

The exhibition preview will be held at 18:00 on 26 October 2024 at St. John’s Centre, 50 Świętojańska Street, Gdańsk 

The exhibition will be open to visitors from 10:00 to 18:00 between 28 October and 8 December.