Jura Golik: Dreams of Kharkiv

Opening: Wed 22.11., 18h (as part of the Rotlicht Festival)

„This series of collages were made when I moved to Lviv at the beginning of September 2022. In this city, I was trying to get back to daily life and several times a day I thought: Almost like in Kharkiv. Here I met a lot of people from my native city who were in the same state of mind. I took film pictures, printed them, cut them, and put them together once again and asked the displayed people to write an association or a memory of Kharkiv. And, I hold their experience in my diary. Besides citizens of Kharkiv, in the project are people from other cities. It was quite interesting to perceive how people never being to Kharkiv are taking the myth of a city and creating their view with the help of text.
Unlike photography, constructing a collage allows your own realm from fragments of reality. When it comes to “Dreams of Kharkiv”, it This series is rather an attempt to trace my memories and feelings, depicting a borderline state between the past (and a failed seek to let it go) and the present which is hard to accept. The form of a diary makes this project intimate. Moreover, texts by depicted people turn images into the performative act of contact. They share their feelings, associations, and dreams with us.“  – Jura Golik

Dreams of Kharkiv was created during an online workshop series by Odesa Photo Days in Igor Chekachkov’s studio.

The exhibition is an initiative of the "Office Ukraine. Shelter for Ukrainian Artists" in cooperation with MuseumsQuartier.

Jura Golik (*2003) is an artist and curator from Kharkiv, Ukraine. Since 2020 he has been studying History and Theory of Arts at Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts and worked as an art-manager at Municipal Gallery in Kharkiv and with friends he launched an independent art project PATIO. In September 2022 he moved to Lviv, currently he is based in Graz, Austria.

Photo: © Jura Golik