In her work, Olya Noun explores various artistic practices in search of her artistic language. She is inspired by the place of her childhood, the picturesque village of Shpytky in the Kyiv region. “Every time I return home, I feel an infinite sense of awe for everything that surrounds me - from the complete silence of the forest to the sound of the water. This place influences my vision and my sense of the world.”

Regarding the upcoming Open Studio, Olya Noun provides insights into her current work Anno Domini, created during her K:H Bremen residency in collaboration with Nazar Ivanyuk. “The project focuses on a critical transition: the moment when a person’s memory ends and only remains as a reflection in the memory of others,” says the artist. A person always leaves a trace in time, even when their physical existence ends. Noun illustrates this with sculptures buried in the ground, the traces of which she translates into wire-molded bodies.

A central theme in Olya Noun’s work is depicting inner experiences. For example, Noun uses the symbolism of a single person on a black-and-white chessboard to visualize inner struggles, which she links to social issues from her environment. Thus, influenced by conversations with her grandmother in her home village of Shpytky, she deals with questions about the value of the family and the individual as a unit in society.

• Olya Noun

  (b. 2003 in Shpytky, Ukraine, legal name Olya Golovatyuk) lives and works in Kyiv, is a visual artist and works multidisciplinary with painting, drawing and installation. She graduated as an interior designer from the National University of Construction and Architecture Kyiv (KNUBA) in 2024. In October 2024 she showed her work in her solo exhibition lost at Kuznia, Kyiv. Since 2023, she has participated in several group exhibitions in Lviv and Kyiv, Ukraine. She is a member of the artistic association nahirna 22 in Kyiv.

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