Lesia Khomenko’s artistic practice is characterised by a constant rethinking of the medium of painting, pushing its boundaries in both technical and conceptual terms. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she began to focus on the role and status of images of Ukrainian soldiers as the primary source of information for the enemy in the early days of the war. In her series “Unidentified Figures”, produced immediately after the outbreak of the war, she attempted to conceal the (military) information contained in the digital photographs (e.g. type of weapon, identity of the person carrying the weapon) through the material quality of the painting. Unable to distance herself from the subject because of her personal involvement, she tried to divert the images she received from her husband in the Ukrainian army through art, using the means of ‘pictorial camouflage’ to enter the warfare that was also taking place at the level of the images.
Viktória Popovics