Exhibitions
Munich Kyiv Queer has a number of interesting photo and art exhibitions by German and Ukrainian artists, which we are happy to lend. You can invite the artists to the vernissage or similar in exchange for the travel expenses; we make contact. Send your inquiries to info@munichkievqueer.org
Before the sun rises, 2024
Russia’s attack on Ukraine has triggered a war the likes of which has not been seen in Europe since 1945. In Ukraine, people have moved closer together. In the midst of the fighting, everything else faded in the background. But war not only brings death and destroyed cities. It also leads to a radicalisation of society and increases the pressure on vulnerable groups such as LGBTIQ*. Our response to these challenges is this exhibition: for “Before the Sun Rises”, we collected stories from 30 queer people from southern Ukraine who experienced the fighting at close quarters. MORE
I am IN Ukraine, I am OUT of Ukraine, 2023
War is always about decisions: Should I leave the country? Do I stay? How can I support my family, friends and, last but not least, the community to which I myself owe a lot? The twelve portraits in “I am IN Ukraine. I am OUT of Ukraine” provide answers. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, non-binary, trans* and queer people from Ukraine tell their stories. MORE
Love knows no boundaries, 2020
LGBTI * suffer from hatred and violence in many parts of the world, especially in Eastern Europe. Munich has been campaigning for the community in its twin city Kyiv since 2012 with political campaigns, culture, and workshops. The exhibition “Love knows no borders – scenes of a town twinning” shows special moments in the togetherness of the LGBTI * groups of both cities, who are connected in friendship. The designer duo Braty, twin brothers from Kyiv, have transformed the stories of their protagonists into moving collages. An exhibition by Münchenstift and Munich Kyiv Queer. MORE
Suburbia, me!, 2019
Ivan Moon lives across the Dnieper, far from the picturesque streets and parks of the Ukrainian capital. Kyiv has two sides – Ivan knows the ugly better than the beautiful. In the suburbs, the German teacher goes looking for everyday stories with his camera on Sundays: the machine records what he is thinking up. Or is that all true? “In Kyiv’s suburb there is no gay. Here there is only shade, wind and endless land,” he writes in the introductory text to the exhibition.
Feeling Blue in Black and White
Drawing saved Hanna Zhytar’s life. She was born in Kyiv and grew up in Belgium with her mother and her second husband. Ten years later, “Annia” comes out as a lesbian. The mother sends her back to the Ukaine, to her birth father. Drawing helps the young woman overcome the pain of being rejected. In black and white thickets of thought made of ink and paper, she tells her life according to her own style.
No right to be yourself, 2014
In times of political upheaval, the situation for social minorities in Ukraine has not become any easier. The photographer and LGBTI * activist Natalia Roi stage lesbian couples and single women who have settled in a homophobic society. The women portrayed have no opportunity to speak publicly about their problems and worries in Ukraine. But they don’t want to hold still. You fight to be yourself.
Gay Propaganda – How Gay is Batman?, 2014
We can accept what is familiar to us – just like the heroes from comics and cartoons that many of us have known since childhood. But in real life, they would have great difficulty living the way they are and how we actually love them, and they might even be prosecuted as “gay propaganda” by law. The series of images by the Munich artist Naomi Lawrence creates new connections between familiarity and alienation and aims to break down prejudices.
K-olours, 2014
They live in secret and yet they exist: lesbians, gays, bi, trans * and inter * in Kyiv. For society they are no more than shadows – and yet they are a multi-faceted part of Ukraine. They carry the colors of their country within them. In his Lomography, activist, and photographer Stanislav Mishchenko shows the diversity and individuality of queer Ukrainians without exposing them.
K-People – Queer Life in Kyiv, 2013
In Ukraine, lesbians, gays, bi, trans * and inter * are not normal. They live in a homophobic and trans * phobic society that confronts them with prejudice, rejection, and violence. From the outside, she reduces society to their sexual identity, but they are personalities with all their hopes, fears, their love, and their sadness. The artist Stanislav Mishchenko makes them visible in his Lomography portraits and gives them back their voice.
