In Pieces
In Pieces is a collection of works by five artists affected by the war in Ukraine.
These works speak to the multiplicities and contradictions of living in a shattered present. In turn, the collected voices of these artists, drawing from their fragile present, create the world of this book.
Artists Sophia Bulgakova, Lia Dostlieva, Ola Lanko, Katia Motyleva, and Kateryna Snizhko – makers of Ukrainian origin, living and working in the Netherlands – have each developed new work specifically for this publication. Their projects were made with a child in mind. Some pieces directly address younger audiences or are inspired by children, others draw on the artist's own memories and experiences. Our goal with In Pieces is to assemble a fragmentary – and certainly incomplete – mosaic of art that can offer a deeper understanding of the war and empower you to engage in conversations about what is happening, beyond the headlines and media images.
The Book of Long Objects by Dostileva beads the fairytale-like stories of successive generations of displaced women in her family onto a thread of her own memory. In Mother Tongue, Motyleva struggles to peel off and piece together her own identity – raised in a post-Soviet time – as she now nurtures her newborn with food from what once felt like home, as the traumas of war surface around her dinner table, turning it into a battlefield. Snizhko’s I wish this paper had remained blank reflects the artist’s struggle with the things she feels she must address. The act of embossing, creating abstract landscapes of colour, becomes a way to put distance between herself and painful events.
Bulgakova’s we all woke up today from some kind of explosions embeds her personal exchanges with friends into elusive stereograms. The technique refers to the ubiquitous stereographic publications popular during the artist's childhood. Her sombre black-and-white interpretation of it speaks to the inaccessibility of her experience to most non-Ukrainians and the waning media coverage of the ongoing war. Finally, Lanko’s Istopia is a game-like experience that invites us to explore emotion and communication through play.
Release date: November 2023
Order your copy now:
€ 45 + shipping
Help us share this book with communities from Ukraine currently based in the Netherlands.
Pay for two copies and we’ll donate one to Open Embassy – an organisation offering support to newcomers.
€90 + shipping
Hard cover with 5 artist booklets
Publisher: Growing Pains
Editors: Agata Bar, Zhenia Sveshchinskaya, Daria Tuminas
Design: Ayumi Higuchi
Images and texts by: Sophia Bulgakova, Lia Dostlieva, Ola Lanko, Katia Motyleva, Kateryna Snizhko
Poem Mother Tongue by: Lyuba Yakimchuk
Text consultant and editor: Egan Garr
Translation: Taco Hidde Bakker, Daisy Gibbons, Oksana Maksymchuk, Olena Rostalna, Natalka Rymska, Felix van de Vorst
Proofreading: Agata Bar, Volodymyr Pylypenko, Zhenia Sveshchinskaya, Daria Tuminas, Teun Verhagen
Printing: Wilco Art Books
Production: Jos Morree Fine Books
Size: 25 x 35 cm
ISBN: 978-90-833635-0-9
Languages: English, Dutch and Ukrainian
Distribution: Idea Books
Publisher: Growing Pains
Editors: Agata Bar, Zhenia Sveshchinskaya, Daria Tuminas
Design: Ayumi Higuchi
Images and texts by: Sophia Bulgakova, Lia Dostlieva, Ola Lanko, Katia Motyleva, Kateryna Snizhko
Poem Mother Tongue by: Lyuba Yakimchuk
Text consultant and editor: Egan Garr
Translation: Taco Hidde Bakker, Daisy Gibbons, Oksana Maksymchuk, Olena Rostalna, Natalka Rymska, Felix van de Vorst
Proofreading: Agata Bar, Volodymyr Pylypenko, Zhenia Sveshchinskaya, Daria Tuminas, Teun Verhagen
Printing: Wilco Art Books
Production: Jos Morree Fine Books
Size: 25 x 35 cm
ISBN: 978-90-833635-0-9
Languages: English, Dutch and Ukrainian
Distribution: Idea Books
Istota (2023), © Ola Lanko commissioned by Growing Pains
we all woke up today from some kind of explosions (2023), © Sophia Bulgakova commissioned by Growing Pains
I wish this paper had remained blank (2023), © Kateryna Snizhko commissioned by Growing Pains
The Book of Long Objects (2023), © Lia Dostlieva commissioned by Growing Pains
Mother Tongue (2023), © Katia Motyleva comissioned by Growing Pains