Oksana Yushko is a multidisciplinary artist and curator, born in Ukraine, studied and lived for many years in Russia, and currently divides her time between Germany and Georgia.
Yushko’s artistic practice expands to different media, including photography, video, sculpture and installation. Her work in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and the Baltic Sea region is based on documentary, anthropological, and sociological studies, and illuminates the relationship between culture and nature with a particular emphasis on human and birds.
She conducts in-depth research on memory and post-trauma, challenging established interpretations of facts and historical narratives, addressing the intricacies of borders. Yushko weaves postcolonial perspectives into her exploration of contemporary human experiences, avoiding simplistic black-and-white dichotomy.
Yushko's latest curatorial project centres around the concept of 'otherness', exploring who represents ‘the other' in a complex and interconnected world. Linking ancient practices of hospitality, rituals and innovative strategies, Yushko's work delves into the ideology of friendship and communication in the 'global village', using critical and musical thinking as tools for understanding. Furthermore, Yushko's curatorial approach adopts friendship as a method of qualitative inquiry in different contexts. Inspired by the concept of "thinking like a mountain" by Aldo Leopold and the notion of interconnectedness proposed by Timothy Morton, Yushko's work provokes reflections on postcolonial intricacies in our ever-changing world.
Oksana Yushko's work has been showcased and published worldwide, and is part of institutional and private collections in Russia, Ukraine, the US, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, England, and Spain, to name a few.
Yushko has received numerous awards, including Luma Rencontres Dummy Book Award Arles 2017, Prix Bayeux Calvados Award for Web Journalism 2014, Lens Culture International Exposure Award 2011, The Aftermath 2009, among others.
News, Current and Upcoming Exhibitions
April 2023 - April 2024
Call A Friend 2.0.22 Project | Curatorial research, series of talks and public events in the South Caucasus
June 2024
FAMILIA, Photo Elysee museum | The Nuit des Images, Lausanne, Switzerland
June 22, 22:00 - 01:00, Screen 9
May 2024 - June 2025
Artistic and curatorial research around the Baltic Sea, series of talks and public events, ARS BALTICA, Germany
July 11-13, 2024
IDENTITY / FAMILIA, DDD Kunsthouse, Yerevan, Armenia
July 24-25, 2024
IDENTITY / FAMILIA, Salaam Cinema, Baku, Azerbaijan
Selected Personal Exhibitions
2024 Familia | Works in progress and transition, CCA Tbilisi, Georgia
2023 Familia, DuoContrudiction, Stockholm, Sweden
2022 Familia, Hirscheneck, Basel, Switzerland
2022 Between Dog and Wolf, Atelier Josepha, Ahrenshoop, Germany
2021 Tea on the Table Performance, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Eduard Steinberg's Studio, Tarusa, Russia
2020 Cast The Net Exhibition, CCI Fabrika, Moscow, Russia
2019 In Search of Islands Exhibition, Museum of The Russian Village, Uchma, Russia
2019 Grozny: Nine Cities Project Exhibition, MSF, Paris, France
2018 Grozny: Nine Cities Project Exhibition, Les Rencontres de la photographie, Arles, France
2018 Memory of Trees, Public Art Installation, Peredelkino, Russia
2017 I want to believe Project Exhibition, Metenkov's Museum of Photography, Yekaterinburg, Russia
2017 In Search of Islands Exhibition, Maxim Bogdanovich's Literary Museum, Minsk, Belarus
2016 Balaklava: The Lost History Exhibition, Kontupiste Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
2015 Familia Exhibition, Zittau, Germany
2014 Grozny: Nine Cities Project Exhibition, Tokyo, Japan
2013 Ward Number Laughter Project Exhibition, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
2013 Soullines Project Exhibition, Chernigov, Ukraine
2012 Grozny: Nine Cities Project Exhibition, Barcelona, Spain
Selected Awards, Exhibitions and Screenings
2024 FAMILIA, Photo Elysee museum | The Nuit des Images, Lausanne, Switzerland
2024 100 Pictures, GAF Photo Gallery, The Cultural Centre Eisfabrik, Hannover, Germany
2024 Entre Chien and Loup, Open Gallery Weekend at the Atelier Josepha, Ahrenshoop, Germany
2024 Silver Prize in The Society for News Design competition, Familia publication in Helsingin Sanomat
2024 Familia Talks, Lost and Found Bureau exhibition, Library About Georgia, Tbilisi
2023 Familia project, European Newspaper Design Award
2023 A Bridge Too Far. Connecting The Dots Exhibition at Ria Keburia Foundation, Georgia
2022 Grozny: Nine Cities Exhibition, Padova, Italy
2022 Familia Exhibition, Photolux Festival, Lucca, Italy
2022 Between Dog and Wolf, Human Isolation Experiments, New Wing of Gogol House gallery, Moscow, Russia
2022 Familia Exhibition, Neisse Film Festival, Germany
2022 Call A Friend curatorial project and exhibition, White Room Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2021 Not All Walls Are What They Seem, Matters of Touch, Verzasca Valley, Brione Castello, Switzerland
2021 Migratory Restlessness, Adaptation, MMOMA, Moscow, Russia
2021 First International Festival of Manuports, Kohta gallery, Helsinki, Finland
2021 The Last Peaceful Day, Time of Things, Winzavod Contemporary Art Center, Moscow, Russia
2021 In Search of Islands, House of Artists, Saratov, Russia
2021 CO2. Perspective, Ugol gallery, Moscow, Russia
2021 Displacement, Intimate Immensity? Peresvetov Pereulok Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2020 Daisy Rivers project, Kassel Dummy Award shortlist, Kassel, Germany
2020 Daisy Rivers project, Oslo Fotobook Festival, The Climate Emergency in 50 Rounds, Norway
2020 Apple Spas Installation and Performance, Peredelkino, Russia
2020 HIDE-AND-SEEK Exhibition, Pordenone, Italy
2020 Ear Secret, I want to believe, CCI Fabrica, Moscow, Russia
2020 Equalism exhibition, Inner World, White Room Gallery, Moscow
2019 In Search Of Islands Exhibition, PHOTO IS:RAEL festival, Tel Aviv, Israel
2019 Toilers By The Sea Exhibition, QR Photogallery, Bologna, Italy
2019 1st place Direct Look Photo Contest with In Search of Islands project, The Compromise category, Moscow, Russia
2019 Das Meer Exhibition, Galerie fur Fotografie in Hannover (GAF), Germany
2019 Shot List Exhibition, New Wing of Gogol House gallery, Moscow, Russia
2018 The Royal Photographic Society's 100 Heroines award and a Margaret Harker Medal
2018 Beyond91 - Portrait of the Perestroika Generation exhibition, Brussel, Belgium
2018 Here I live, Grozny: Nine Cities project exhibition, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
2018 Beyond91 - Portrait of the Perestroika Generation exhibition, Berlin, Germany
2017 Luma Rencontres Dummy Book Award Arles 2017, Grozny: Nine Cities, Les Rencontres de la photographie, Arles, France
2017 Guerilla Slide Show, In Search of Islands project, Perpignan, France
2017 Exhibition In Search of Islands, Photofestival Photoparad in Uglich, Uglich, Russia
2017 LANDSKRONA PHOTO FESTIVAL, Familia project, Landskrona city center, Sweden
2017 Les rendez-vous de Juillet Festival, screening of In Search of Islands project, Autun, France
2017 New Spread Book Exhibition, Grozny: Nine Cities project, The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography, Moscow
2017 Kassel Dummy Award 2017 shortlist, Grozny: Nine Cities project, Germany
2017 First Book Award 2017, Grozny: Nine Cities project, London, UK
2017 Exhibition Beyond91 - Portrait of the Perestroika Generation, Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin, Germany
2017 Exhibition Beyond91 - Portrait of the Perestroika Generation, CLB Berlin, Germany
2017 Exhibition Grozny: Nine Cities, Bourse du Talent 2016, National Library, Paris, France
2016 Les Recontres d'Arles, screening of Graduates project, Arles, France
2016 Exhibition The City of Roads, Fotografika gallery, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
2016 PVF, exhibition of Graduates project, Museum of Photography, Helsinki, Finland
2016 Exhibition The way I live with Familia project, Hermitage Museum, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
2015 FOTOQUAI, exhibition of Graduates project, Musee du quai Branly, Paris, France
2015 Fotovisa, exhibition of Portrait of a city from archive project, Krasnodar, Russia
2015 Exhibition of Familia project, Sakharovsky center, Moscow, Russia
2015 1st place in FOTODOC Center for Documentary Photography Direct Look photo contest with Familia project, Compromise category, Moscow, Russia
2015 Tbilisi Photofestival, projection of Toilers by the sea, Tbilisi, Georgia
2015 The Neisse Film Festival, Familia project exhibition, Germany
2015 Award of Excelence in Magazine Lifestyle Story | National Press Photographers Association Contest with Familia project 2015
2015 DOCUDAYS UA, exhibition and installation of Grozny: Nine Cities project, Kiev, Ukraine
2014 Prix Bayeux Calvados award for web journalism with Grozny: Nine Cities project, Bayeux, France
2014 Bayeux-Calvados Award for War Correspondents, installation of Grozny: Nine Cities project, Bayeux, France
2014 Fotoistanbul 2014, installation of Grozny: Nine Cities project, Turkey
2014 Tbilisi Photofestival, projection of The Batterfly Effect project, Tbilisi, Georgia
2014 Reminders Photography Stronghold, exhibition of Grozny: Nine Cities project, Tokyo, Japan
2014 The First World WARM Festival, installation of Grozny: Nine Cities project, National Gallery, Sarajevo
2014 Les Recontres d'Arles, screening of Balaklava: The Lost History project, Arles, France
2014 Euromaidan: The True Story group exhibition, Checkpoint Charlie Museum, Berlin, Germany
2014 Legacy group exhibition with Grozny: Nine Cities project, Side gallery, Newcastle, UK
2014 3d place Magazine Lifestyle Story | National Press Photographers Association Contest with Graduates project
2014 Euromaidan: The True Story group exhibition, Kolga Photofestival, Georgia
2014 Exhibition Single Story: A Portrait of Middle America project, Paducah, Kentucky, USA
2014 RPS Wall Grant winner with Grozny: Nine Cities project, Tokio, Japan
2014 Euromaidan: The True Story group exhibition, Kiev, Ukraine
2013 La Miscelanea Gallery, exhibition Common Space, Mexico city, Mexico
2013 BURN Emerging Photographer Fund winner with Balaklava: The Lost History project
2013 The Browse Fotofestival Berlin, exhibition and installation of Grozny: Nine Cities project, STATION, Berlin, Germany
2013 Finalist of Palm Springs Photo Festival, screening of Balaklava: The Lost History, USA
2013 Tbilisi Photofestival, exhibition of Beslan Identity and Grozny:Nine Cities projects, Tbilisi, Georgia
2013 Tbilisi Photofestival, projection of Soullines and Balaklava: The Lost History projects, Tbilisi, Georgia
2013 Open Air Photo Festival, exhibition of Soullines project, Chernigov, Ukraine
2013 Finalist of the 2nd Asian Women Photographers’ Showcase, The 2013 Chiang Mai Documentary Arts Festival, screening of Balaklava: The Lost History, Chiang Mai, Thailand
2012 Athens Photo Festival, screening of Grozny: Nine Cities project, Athens, Greece
2012 Shortlisted for Anthropographia Human Rights Through Visual Storytelling Awards with Grozny: Nine Cities project installation
2012 Les Recontres d'Arles, screening of Grozny: Nine Cities project, Arles, France
2012 Winner in the Multimedia Category of the Alexander Efremov Report Photography Competition with Grozny: Nine Cities project, Tyumen, Russia
2012 Shortlisted for the Voies Off Prize with Grozny: Nine Cities project, France
2012 Group exhibition during the 3d Copenhagen Photo Festival with project Kenozero Dreams, Denmark
2012 Tbilisi Photofestival, discussion and projection of Grozny: Nine Cities project, National Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia
2012 Group exhibition Other Worlds, with project Moscow: Inside/Outside, The Gallery at Flannels, Leeds, UK
2012 Finalist of the PDN Photo-Annual Contest with Grozny: Nine Cities project multimedia
2012 1st Biennale of Photography of Lima, screening of Grozny: Nine Cities project, Museo de Fotografia, Lima, Peru
2011 Lens Culture International Exposure Awards, Grand Prize Winner in the Multimedia Category with the project Grozny:Nine Cities
2011 1st International Bursa Photography Festival, screening of Grozny:Nine Cities project, Bursa, Turkey
2011 Group exhibition during the 9th International Photo Festival BackLight2011 with the project Kenozero Dreams, Tampere Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
2011 Group exhibition Photographicon:Russia Through the Lens, the University of Wales, Newport, UK
2011 Moving Image Award - People's Choice for multimedia work from Grozny:Nine Cities project, World Photography Organisation, UK
2011 Finalist of The Manuel Rivera Ortiz Foundation for International Photography Grant with the project Grozny:Nine Cities
2011 Group exhibition Provocation in New York Photo Festival with the project Grozny:Nine Cities, New York, US
2011 Palm Springs Photo Festival 2011, screening of Grozny:Nine Cities project, Palm Springs, US
2011 Mapping the Flaneur group installation during FORMAT Festival'11 in Derby, UK
2011 Group exhibition Siberian Character, Museum Center, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
2010 One of the three finalists of Conscientious Portfolio Competition
http://jmcolberg.com
2010 Finalist of The Aftermath Project with the project Grozny, Nine Cities
2010 Exhibition of documentary based multimedia Projections of Reality with the multimedia project Majnum and Rahma, Moscow, Red October
2010 Group exhibition of young Russian photographers ADVANTAGE, Metenkov House Photo Museum, Yekaterinburg
2010 Finalist of the competition Man and Sea, group exhibition during II International Festival of photography PHOTOVISA in Krasnodar
2010 Finalist of the Young Photography competition, exhibition in FotoDepartament Gallery, St.Petersburg
2090Visions of reality exhibition with the multimedia project Majnum and Rahma, Mel Gallery, Moscow
2009 Foto in motion. Vol.2. CD release on the subject Youth: self-discovery with the multimedia project Majnum and Rahma, presentation during St. Petersburg Summer Festival of Photography in FotoDepartament Gallery, St. Petersburg
2008 Top-10 winner of the competition Young Photographers of Russia, group exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
2008 Winner of the competition Without Barriers, exhibition in FotoSoyuz Gallery, Moscow
2007 People choice award in the Silver Camera competition about Moscow with a series Moscow.Rain, exhibition in the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall, Moscow
2006 Top-10 winner of the competition Young Photographers of Russia with a series Frozen souls, group exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
2006 Finalist of the Silver Camera competition about Moscow, exhibition in the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall, Moscow
2005 Top-10 winner of the competition Young Photographers of Russia with a reportage about the Young pioneers in Russia, group exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Books
2020 Daisy Rivers
2018 Grozny:Nine Cities Book
2011 'War is Only Half the Story. Vol 4'/The Aftermath Project
Curatorial work
2024 IDENTITY, film screenings and video art, Salaam Cinema, co-curating with Ulrich Polster, Baku, Azerbaijan
2024 IDENTITY, film screenings and video art, DDD Kunsthouse, co-curating with Ulrich Polster and Teresa Davtyan, Yerevan, Armenia
2024 IDENTITY, film screenings and video art, Bonito Urban Space, co-curating with Ulrich Polster and Teresa Davtyan, Tbilisi, Georgia
2024 Dissolving Your Earplugs, CCA Tbilisi&Ikalto Art Residency, Georgia
2023 Chimara, Dilijan Lore Museum and Art Gallery, Armenia
2023 Like A Mountain.Echo Performance, Artarea Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia
2023 Call A Friend 2.0.22 series of public events, The South Caucasus
2023 The Edge of The Air, Untitled Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia
2022 Call A Friend, White Room Gallery, Tverskaya15, Moscow, Russia
2021 Resistance, HORS Art Space, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
2020 HIDE-AND-SEEK Experiential Art, Pordenone, Italy
2019 ONE, Fotografika gallery, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
2018 Memory Card, Fotografika gallery, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
2017 Bigger than I, Minsk, Belarus
2017 Time, Fotografika gallery, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
2017 I Want to Believe, Metenkov Museum, Yekaterinburg, Russia
2016 The City of Roads, Fotografika gallery, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
2013 Inner City, Natavan Gallery, Baku, Azerbaijan
Art Residencies
2024/2025 Art Residency ARS Baltica, Germany
2024 Tbilisi Crossroads Art Residency, Racha region, Georgia
2023 Curatorial Research Residency in Germany, Sweden and Finland
2022 IPureLand & Ria Keburia Foundation, Georgia
2022 Atelier Josepha, Germany
2021 Pro Helvetia, Verzasca Valley, Switzerland
2020 Peredelkino Art Recidence, Moscow region, Russia
2019 Museum of History of the Russian Villages, Yaroslavl Region, Russia
2019 Brest Fortress Development Foundation, Brest, Belarus
2018 Peredelkino Writers Village, Moscow region, Russia
2017 Metenkov Museum of Photography in Yekaterinburg, Russia
2014 Paducah Art Alliance, Kentucky, USA
Education
2024 AI Mindset [knowledge] Lab
2023 Technology & Thought in Sonic Media Summer School
2022 Urvakan Exchange Program / The Sound Lab
2020/2022 Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Moscow, Russia
2020/2021 NEMOSKVA Curatorial School
2020/2021 MMOMA, Free Workshops, Moscow, Russia
2020 Philosophy and Art cycle of seminars, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Russia
2020 Change Groups, Fotodepartament.Istitute, Russia
2018 A Liquid Memorial contemporary art workshop, Nida Art Colony, Lithuania
2016 MediaLab, Prague, Czech Republic
2015 FUAM book workshop with Anna Nalecka and Rafal Milach, Istanbul, Turkey
2011 Noor-Nikon masterclass in documentary photography, Bucharest, Romania
2008/2010 Objective Reality Foundation online workshops in photography and multimedia
2005/2006 School of journalism 'Izvestia', Moscow, Russia
Selected publications
The New York Times, The WSJ, Stern, GEO, The Sunday Times, MSNBC, Mare, 6Mois, Financial Times, Le Monde, Helsingin Sanomat, Svenska Dagbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Russian Reporter, Takie Dela, International Herald Tribune, Guardian, Spiegel, Die Zeit, VISION, RearViewMirror, PhotoRAW, PRIVATE, Aftenposten, IODONNA, among others.
