Share the post "“My Practice Has Become a Direct Response to War, Shaped by The Urgent Reality Around Me”. Interview with Visual Artist Alina Zamanova"
Tell us what you do and your beginnings.
I’m a visual artist based in Kyiv. My work is rooted in the lived experience of war and its impact on people, communities, and the environment. I primarily work with painting and sculpture, exploring how violence disrupts memory, reshapes everyday life, and leaves lasting traces on both the land and our bodies.
I see the landscape as a witness—an archive that holds memory and evidence of destruction.
What does your work aim to say?
My work speaks to how war imprints itself—physically, emotionally, and culturally—on both people and the land. I explore memory as something embodied, carried not only in human experience but also in the landscape, which becomes a witness and archive of trauma.
By using recurring motifs like the Ukrainian landscape and objects such as anti-tank hedgehogs, I aim to reflect resilience, loss, and the way destruction becomes part of everyday life.
I also move towards abstraction to avoid numbing the viewer, their indifference and rejection as a self-defence against the repeated images of violence and suffering, seeking instead to create space for reflection and empathy without flattening individual pain into generalised horror.
Where do you find inspiration for your art?
Inspiration, for me, is not about seeking beauty but about staying close to what feels urgent and real. Living and working in Ukraine during the full-scale invasion, my practice has become a direct response to war, shaped by the urgent reality around me.
Often, work begins with something specific—a damaged object, a familiar landscape changed by violence, or a memory that surfaces unexpectedly. I’m capturing how the land carries traces of what has happened, how bodies absorb and reflect trauma, and how daily life continues in rupture.
Could you give us some insight into your creative process?
My process often starts with a strong emotional or visual impulse—something I’ve seen, remembered, or felt in relation to the landscape or current events in Ukraine.