Prose and painting

“To the City and to the World” is the title of a joint project launched by the artist Iryna Holub and the writer Natalia Sterkina, now on display at the Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow. To an artist of the 21st century the city is, like before, a boundless object of research. A city is an object of myth-making at the same time as it is a myth, while the basis of a myth is its involvement with life and the artist’s direct experiences.

Holub’s project is called MirGorod (a combination of the Russian words for “world” and “city”) and includes an associative layer verbalized as Urbi et orbi: to the City and to the World. The paradigm of City-World or World-City is a parallel, equivalency, and dialogue. The essay “Moscow-Kyiv; Lviv-Moscow” reveals the “dreams of a city.” Expectations, fears, hopes, phobias, and the magic of the contemporary city are the subjects of Sterkina’s works.

These works of prose fiction and paintings are linked by rhythm and the desire to organize space and create an atmosphere. Both Holub and Sterkina are seeking to discover the image of the City.