The Museum and Exhibition Center of the Museum of Kyiv History presents the solo exhibition of contemporary painting “KYIEVE MIYI!” by renowned Ukrainian artist Lidiia Selianko.

“KYIEVE MIYI!” is an exhibition of works about Kyiv through the eyes of contemporary Ukrainian artist Lidiia Selianko. It is a declaration of love in the language of painting, an exhibition of admiration for the beloved, indomitable hero city. And it opens at a special time for Kyiv – at the end of May. For it is precisely in the last days of this month that the city celebrates its birthday, blossoms, flourishes with greenery, and teems with life. And full-scale war is powerless to stop this. The capital, through the artist’s eyes, is filled with a thirst for a happy future and Victory. The author often paints chestnut trees as one of the main symbols of Kyiv’s identity. At the same time, she is fascinated by Kyiv’s landscapes and invites viewers to see them through the prism of bright colors and contrasting silhouettes of the industrial city.

Picturesque Kyiv landscapes, unique architectural monuments, and an unconventional view of the panoramas of the modern city — these are the themes embodied in Lidiia Selianko’s works. The artist also paid special attention to the theme of Kyiv’s bridges across the Dnipro, from which the series of works about the capital began. In particular, the Podilskyi-Voskresenskyi Bridge and the Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge over Volodymyrskyi Descent (Glass Bridge). Bridges do not always occupy the central place in the paintings and may hide behind architecture or be reflected in the water. However, the most attentive viewer will always notice them.

“I am interested in observing how the city changes, how new buildings are erected, how modern bridges appear, how majestic they are in the daytime and romantic in the evening, when the city is lit with lights. I often paint bridges at different stages of construction, so that later I can compare the picture ‘before’ and ‘after.’ It was painful for me to watch how Kyiv froze when russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine began. How people left en masse, how it was shelled and destroyed, how my native Kyiv drowned in darkness. But I know that after night there always comes morning. In the same way, I believe that soon our Victory will come,” says the author of the exhibition, Lidiia Selianko.