“The Black Necklace”

This installation consists of bulky wooden beads (the designer showed it as an art object at the International Fair of Contemporary Art “Art Vilnius’14”).

“The project itself was ready for the show as early as this spring,” the exhibition’s curator Maryna Shcherbenko told us. “However, with changing time, it has been adapted to the needs of today. A black necklace lies on the ground and serves as an embellishment of it... The color prompts very own associations in the audience, looking to various people like ashes, earth, or mourning... The project is timely, for what is happening today in Ukraine affects the Ukrainian woman as well, as she is seeing off her son, husband, father, brother who are going to war, often to certain death... Even though black is unusual for Ukrainian women’s jewelry, it is conditioned by the historical moment of its presentation, describes it in terms of the tragedy of the modern woman.”

After participating in the international forum, the installation was supplemented by multi-screen visual presentation featuring a girl that tries on a necklace before the mirror, with audio accompaniment to folk melodies by Ukrainian composer Alla Zahaikevych, sung by singer Susanna Karpenko. The high point of the girl’s image is a unique wreath made by Olha Troian from goose feathers. Its prototype was Ivano-Frankivsk-based Paraska Kushliak’s work that included feather flowers created out of goose breast feathers as decoration for brides.

“Art should give impetus, it is intended to transform the people’s feelings,” Likhachova said. “This image of girl trying on her jewelry stresses that the tragedy affected all of us... It is a tribute to our age, but there still remains the hope, for the woman is the future, because she gives a new life.”

The Black Necklace will run at the Shcherbenko Art Center until October 11.