Oleksandra

Українка

OLEKSANDRA FEDORUK

Ukrainian Artist, Photographer, Restorer

Kyiv, Ukraine
Tel: +380665587238
Email: aleksachenkafedoruk@gmail.com

In her artistic practice, she combines graphic art, painting, photography, and performative practices. Since childhood, her artistic thinking has been shaped by an acute perception of the surrounding world, a tendency toward philosophical reflection on reality, and the creation of symbolic images that later became the foundation of her distinctive artistic language.

More than fifteen years of experience in the field of cultural heritage restoration has directly influenced her artistic vision and defined the thematic scope of her own work: Oleksandra works with the themes of memory, identity, cultural heritage, and collective archetypes. Her projects explore the relationships between the individual, history, and physical space, where the artist acts as a mediator between the past and the contemporary context. Her works are imbued with profound symbolism. The foundation of her artistic approach is the exploration of the question: “What problem does art solve today?”

ARTISTIC CREDO
The human heart is revealed through its culture, regardless of country or time.

Skills in working with a wide range of materials and techniques:
working with egg tempera, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, graphite pencil, aniline dyes, oil paint, aniline dyes, and mixed media on canvas, paper, ceramics, and wood;
gilding and silver leaf application;
levkas technique;
hot batik technique.

EDUCATION

2007–2014
National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, Kyiv
Specialization: Restoration of Easel and Monumental Painting

2003–2006
Taras Shevchenko State Art Secondary School, Kyiv

SELECTED PROJECTS AND SERIES

Shadows of the Ancestors
An original graphic art series by Oleksandra Fedoruk dedicated to female archetypes that are passed down through generations as cultural and spiritual heritage. Each image in the series reveals a distinct facet of female nature: strength, tenderness, resilience, the capacity for self-sacrifice, memory, and renewal.

Created before the beginning of the full-scale war, the series acquired new significance after 2022. The central image of a woman forced to leave her homeland and seek a new home abroad proved to be a prophetic reflection of the fate of millions of Ukrainian women. In these works, exile appears not as a loss but as a transformation. The heroines carry with them the memory of their lineage, language, culture, and inner light, becoming living bearers of Ukrainian identity throughout the world.

Shadows of the Ancestors tells the story of roots that cannot be torn from the earth even when a person is forced to leave their country. Like seeds scattered by the wind, Ukrainian culture continues to take root in new countries, creating an invisible network of memory and belonging. The series explores the connection between personal destiny and collective history, between the past of a lineage and the future of a nation.

I Will Be
An original All-Ukrainian photographic art project by Oleksandra Fedoruk dedicated to the preservation of Ukraine’s architectural heritage that is under threat of disappearance. The graphic series Shadows of the Ancestors became its visual window into the past, combining art and documentary photography. The photographic documentation of the project was carried out by Serhii Bechko. The project features the Tereshchenko Palace in Chervone, Thor Lange Palace in Napadivka, Sydoriv Castle, Chervonohorod Castle, Svirzh Castle, the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Bilyi Kamin, and the unfinished museum in Pereiaslav.

Ukraine. Prayer for Peace
特別企画 「ウクライナ 平和への祈り」
An international art project by Oleksandra Fedoruk and Akitoshi Matsuhara, realized in Japan as a cultural dialogue between the two countries. Through the combination of Ukrainian archetypes, the Japanese philosophy of light, and the theme of peace, the exhibition transformed art into a space of empathy. The project became an example of cultural diplomacy that brings together memory, spirituality, heritage, and a shared vision of the future.

Wings
A project that explores how the perception of the same image changes under the influence of time, experience, and life circumstances. The central elements are the mask and the image of an angel as symbols of memory and inner presence. Through the repeated reproduction of a single motif, the project raises questions of self-identification, acceptance of one’s own changes, the bodily traces of experience, and the influence of personal history on the perception of oneself and the world.

100 Portraits of the Healing Mountain
A photographic project that explores the landscape as a living personality. One hundred photographs, created from a single observation point, record the changing states of light, weather, and time. Inspired by the Japanese concepts of mujo, wabi-sabi, and ma, the project reveals the beauty of the uniqueness of the moment, transforming photography into a practice of contemplation, presence, and dialogue with nature.

My Name Is Red
A cycle of paintings by Oleksandra Fedoruk, created in 2013–2014 on the eve of the turning-point events in the modern history of Ukraine. The series explores the state of an inner premonition of change, when an individual’s personal experience becomes a reflection of collective memory. In the works, red serves as a metaphor for the energy of life, pain, choice, and the inevitability of fate. By combining expressive painting, symbolism, and her own artistic language, the artist creates images that reveal the complex processes of spiritual awakening, loss, hope, and the birth of a new identity.

EXHIBITIONS

2024–2025
Duo international exhibition by Oleksandra Fedoruk and Akitoshi Matsuhara, “和宇 – WaU Art Fusion,” National Sanctuary “Saint Sophia of Kyiv,” Kyiv;
Shevchenko National Preserve, Kaniv; Riverwood Gallery, Cherkasy Region, Ukraine.

2023
Participation in the group exhibition “Women Avant-garde: FIGHT, SISTER!”
Vienna, Austria.

2022
Duo exhibition by Oleksandra Fedoruk and Akitoshi Matsuhara, Kiyomizu-dera Jōju-in, Kyoto, Japan.

2022
Duo exhibition by Oleksandra Fedoruk and Akitoshi Matsuhara, “Ukraine – Prayer for Peace” (Kyoto, Japan), exhibition and charitable initiatives in support of Ukraine.

Duo exhibition by Oleksandra Fedoruk and Akitoshi Matsuhara, Takasegawa Shiki AIR, Kyoto, Japan.

2021–2022
Solo exhibition “Shadows of the Ancestors” and the photographic project “I Will Be.”
National Sanctuary “Saint Sophia of Kyiv,” Kyiv, Ukraine.

2020
Author’s project and exhibition “Shadows of the Ancestors” and the photographic project “I Will Be,” Pidhirtsi Castle Museum-Reserve, Pidhirtsi village, Lviv Region, Ukraine.

2019
Solo exhibition “Shadows of the Ancestors. Roots.”
The halls of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Kyiv.

2017
Solo exhibition and presentation of the graphic art series “Shadows of the Ancestors.”
Zavalnyi Art Center, Kyiv, Ukraine.

Professional Conservation and Restoration Practice

Restorer of easel and monumental painting with more than 15 years of professional experience. Successfully passed the certification of Ukrainian art restorers and was awarded the Second Qualification Category in the restoration of monumental fresco, glue-bound, and oil painting in architectural monuments. Experience in the conservation and restoration of graphic works on paper.

Skills

Conservation and restoration of tempera and oil paintings on wooden panels, plywood, and canvas supports; conservation and restoration of monumental painting, including fresco, oil painting, and mosaics.
Processes: consolidation of the paint layer, consolidation of the support, repair of canvas tears, strip-lining of canvas edges, removal of surface dirt, thinning and removal of varnish, removal of overpaint, application of restoration ground, inpainting, and application of a protective varnish layer.
Basic skills in the conservation and restoration of graphic works on paper.
Processes: removal of light surface dirt, repair of minor paper tears and compensation of losses, correction of minor deformations.
Framing artworks in accordance with museum standards.
Packing artworks for transportation.
Care of artworks in storage and on display.
Specialized photography (photographic documentation of the restoration process).
Skills in the scientific examination of works of art for conservation and restoration purposes, including identification of artistic techniques and assessment of the state of preservation.
Preparation and completion of conservation and restoration documentation.

Additional Skills
Drawing, painting, and copying.
Gilding – application of transfer gold leaf, silver leaf, and imitation gold leaf.
Experience in organizing exhibition projects.

Professional Experience

2018–2025
National Sanctuary “Saint Sophia of Kyiv”, an architectural monument of the 11th–19th centuries, Kyiv, Ukraine.

Restorer of monumental painting.

Since 2021 – Restorer of works on paper.

2017–2018
National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine.

Restorer of easel painting and polychrome wooden sculpture.

2019
Collaboration with a private conservation and restoration studio in Freiburg, Germany.

Restorer of easel painting.

2010–2011
Restoration of the wall paintings of St. Michael’s Church (St. Michael’s Monastery), an architectural monument of the 18th–19th centuries, Pereiaslav, Ukraine.

Education

2012–2014
Master’s Degree in the Restoration of Easel and Monumental Painting.

National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (NAFAA), Kyiv.

2008–2012
Bachelor’s Degree in the Restoration of Easel and Monumental Painting.

National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (NAFAA), Kyiv.

2003–2006
Taras Shevchenko State Art Secondary School, Kyiv.

інсталяція графіка, живопис, Фотографія

перформанс

анімація

книги, часописи, періодика, інші друковані видання

дизайн

реставрація, консервація, археологічні пам’ятки, музеї

арт куратор, арт менеджер, продюсер