(Sub) Sea Baby from ‘Flowers or Explosions’ series


Despite my 10 years of academic art education, and 10 of color studying later, along with studying of contemporary art, I got back to Ukrainian folk primitivism as a starting point for this series: open bold colours, children-like drawn flower-sign, and symbolic meaning, hidden in composition, symbols and names of the paintings. 

This works, made in a nowadays Kyiv, are about real freedom for me: the main value we are fighting for right now. 

Alena Kuznetsova

‘Broad perspective’ series is in Strasbourg, France

Meanwhile, my paintings from Broad Perspective series (2020-2021) were shown at Ukrainian Art Evening event 💛💙 at European Circle, Strasbourg, France🇫🇷

Thankful to @iryna_belan and Tamara Tochytska who contributed to this ❤️

Broad Perspective (working title Stripes) is a long-term painting project developed between 2013 and 2021 during car journeys across Ukraine and abroad. The series emerged from reflections on the peculiar condition of being in transit — a state of existing almost “nowhere.” As a passenger, the artist observed the passing horizon and shifting landscapes, using the time of travel as a rare pause from the constant flow of information and obligations.

Following the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the project acquired a new layer of meaning. The works now evoke a heightened sense of fragility and temporariness. In recent years, the symbolic meaning of movement has changed profoundly. While travel may still offer expanded perspectives and opportunities — particularly for artists — it has also become more complicated and exhausting. With air travel unavailable from Ukraine, journeys have grown longer, familiar routes to the south remain inaccessible due to occupation, and some landscapes captured in these paintings may remain out of reach for years to come.

For many Western viewers, this series may appear relatively neutral, as they have not had to experience these limitations — and that, in itself, is something to be grateful for.

In a self-referential turn, travel became the fate of the series itself. After the invasion began, the works first traveled to Copenhagen, where some remain, and later continued to Brussels. Through this journey, the project has connected the artist with new communities as well as long-standing friends who offered support along the way. Now, they travelled from Brussels to Strasbourg, continuing the idea.

You may find all the paintings from this through the hashtag #kuznetsovastripes
DM for inquirieis 📦🌍