OKAPI Galerii

We are pleased to introduce the Ukrainian artists participating in the residency programme Waves of Creativity.
Please meet Ievgeniia Kupchan, a Ukrainian multidisciplinary artist and curator based in Kyiv.
Her practice combines photography, land art, performance, collage, objects and installation. Since 2021, she has been developing the post-performance method in Ukraine, exploring the body as a space of lived experience, identity and connection.
During the residency, Ievgeniia is working on three projects that reflect on living with post-traumatic experience, adapting to a safe environment, coping with news from Ukraine and remembering those killed in Russian attacks. Two projects combine land art, performance and photography, while the third takes the form of a photographic essay.
Through these works, she aims to invite visitors into a post-performance interaction and create space for their own experience of these themes.
Read more about Ievgeniia’s background, artistic practice and residency projects via the link in our bio:
https://www.okapi.ee/art-residency/ongoing-projects/project-artists/ievgeniia-kupchan
“Waves of Creativity”
An international art residency project for Ukrainian lens-based artists
4.5-month programme Co-funded by Creative Europe
(May- September 2026)
PARTNERS:
Okapi Art Residency / OKAPI Galerii
Odesa Photo Days Festival / Odesa Photo Days Festival
Haihatus Art Center & Residence / Taidelaitos Haihatus
Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V. / Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V.

We are pleased to introduce the Ukrainian artists participating in the residency programme Waves of Creativity.

Please meet Olia Koval, a Ukrainian lens-based artist working with conceptual photography, video and installation.
Olia combines analogue photography with handmade objects, using a pseudo-documentary approach to construct narratives. Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, her practice has increasingly focused on internal processes and lived experiences connected to life during wartime. Her work has been presented internationally, including at Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Hangar in Brussels, and FOTODOK in Utrecht.
During the residency, Olia is developing two projects. The audiovisual work You Can Eat What You Can Eat, created in collaboration with Ukrainian musician Albert Tsukrenko, is currently in the editing and post-production stage.
Her photographic project Sleeping Beauty explores the beauty industry in Ukraine and examines how conventional ideas of femininity and beauty are constructed. The series brings together different forms of portraiture—from women who have undergone cosmetic procedures to young girls attending provincial modelling schools. During the residency, Olia is also expanding the project through still lifes to strengthen its visual and conceptual coherence.
Read more about Olia’s background, artistic practice, and residency projects via the link in our bio.
https://www.okapi.ee/art-residency/ongoing-projects/project-artists/olia-koval
“Waves of Creativity”
An international art residency project for Ukrainian lens-based artists
4.5-month programme Co-funded by Creative Europe
(May- September 2026)
PARTNERS:
Okapi Art Residency / OKAPI Galerii
Odesa Photo Days Festival / Odesa Photo Days Festival
Haihatus Art Center & Residence / Taidelaitos Haihatus
Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V. / Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V.

We are pleased to introduce the Ukrainian artists participating in the residency programme Waves of Creativity.
Please meet Mykyta Bezus, who is currently in residence at Kunstverein Wagenhalle in Stuttgart, Germany.
Mykyta’s practice explores memory, time, human relationships and our connection with nature. Through portraits, landscapes, still lifes and everyday observations, he searches for meaning in ordinary moments and reflects on ecological issues and experiences of change.
During the residency, Mykyta is developing a project centred on the theme of time. He explores how time is experienced through the body, attention and memory, and asks whether it is truly linear or instead a living and constantly changing experience shaped by our state of mind, past experiences and plans for the future.
Read more about Mykyta’s background, artistic practice and residency project via the link in our bio.
https://www.okapi.ee/residentuur/kaimasolevad-projektid/projekti-kunstnikud/mykyta-bezus

“Waves of Creativity”
An international art residency project for Ukrainian lens-based artists
4.5-month programme Co-funded by Creative Europe
(May- September 2026)

PARTNERS:
Okapi Art Residency / OKAPI Galerii
Odesa Photo Days Festival / Odesa Photo Days Festival
Haihatus Art Center & Residence / Taidelaitos Haihatus
Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V. / Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V.

We are pleased to introduce the Ukrainian artists participating in the residency programme Waves of Creativity.
Please meet Olesia Saienko. Se was currently in residence at Haihatus in Finland Taidelaitos Haihatus | Art Centre Haihatus Taidelaitos Haihatus

Her career began in photojournalism and freelance practice, with a focus on documentary and conceptual photography. In recent projects, she has expanded beyond photography into video, installations and artist books.
During the residency, Olesia is developing a photography project about death. This theme requires both time and distance, making the residency an ideal opportunity for her to structure the existing material, reflect on the project’s further development and refine its conceptual framework.
Read more about Olesia’s background, artistic practice and residency project via the link in our bio.

https://www.okapi.ee/art-residency/ongoing-projects/project-artists/olesia-saienko
“Waves of Creativity”
An international art residency project for Ukrainian lens-based artists
4.5-month programme Co-funded by Creative Europe
(May- September 2026)
PARTNERS:
Okapi Art Residency / OKAPI Galerii
Odesa Photo Days Festival / Odesa Photo Days Festival
Haihatus Art Center & Residence / Taidelaitos Haihatus
Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V. / Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V.

We are pleased to introduce the Ukrainian artists participating in the residency programme Waves of Creativity.

Please meet Oleh Pereverziev. He was currently in residence at Kunstverein Wagenhalle in Stuttgart, Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V.Germany and is now moving to Haihatus in Finland Taidelaitos Haihatus

Oleh is a Ukrainian visual artist and documentary photographer whose practice has been shaped by the experience of war and the personal trauma it has caused. Through photography, video and text, he reflects on how memory is formed and how it becomes embedded in spaces and objects.

Read more about Oleh’s background, practice and residency project via the link in bio :
https://www.okapi.ee/art-residency/ongoing-projects/project-artists/oleh-pereverziev

“Waves of Creativity”
An international art residency project for Ukrainian lens-based artists
4.5-month programme Co-funded by Creative Europe
(May- September 2026)
PARTNERS:
Okapi Art Residency / EST OKAPI Galerii
Odesa Photo Days Festival / Odesa Photo Days Festival
Haihatus Art Center & Residence / FIN Taidelaitos Haihatus
Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V. /GER Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V.

Please meet Оксана Чорна. She has just completed a two-week residency in Saaremaa, Estonia, and has now returned to Ukraine, where she continues her work documenting the war. We are sending our warmest wishes to you, Oxana!

👇🏼
https://share.google/dYnzWGKmt3cGrZ0EJ

Co-founded by Creative Europe

We are pleased to introduce the Ukrainian artists participating in the residency programme Waves of Creativity.

Please meet Oxana Chorna. She has just completed a two-week residency in Saaremaa, Estonia, and has now returned to Ukraine, where she continues her work documenting the war. We are sending our warmest wishes to you, Oxana!

Oxana Chorna is a documentary photographer, writer, researcher and active-duty officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. For the past several years, she has been working as a military photographer, documenting the lives and combat operations of military units on Ukraine’s eastern front. In her artistic practice, she explores how human dignity and empathy persist under extreme circumstances.

Read more about Oxana’s background, practice and residency project via the link :
https://www.okapi.ee/art-residency/ongoing-projects/project-artists/oksana-chorna

“Waves of Creativity”
An international art residency project for Ukrainian lens-based artists
4.5-month programme Co-funded by Creative Europe
(May- September 2026)

PARTNERS:
Okapi Art Residency / EST OKAPI Galerii
Odesa Photo Days Festival / UA Odesa Photo Days Festival
Haihatus Art Center & Residence / FIN
Taidelaitos Haihatus
Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V. / GER
Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V.