Nataliia Hresko

Memory map

admin — Sat, 23 May 2026 18:54:50 +0000

Projects

Memory map

Timeline: 2026
Medium: Cyanotype
Quantity: 1 large-scale fabric composition, 3 works on watercolor paper
Print: Canson watercolor paper, fabric

This project is a historical and cultural collage—a visual chronicle that brings together the people, events, and phenomena that have shaped the Ukrainian identity over centuries.
I chose cyanotype for its symbolic weight; the process literally captures the “imprints” of the figures and moments that served as the lifeforce of our nation from its origins to the present day.

The composition creates a shared space where Prince Yaroslav the Wise stands alongside the “Sixtiers” (dissidents of the 1960s). It weaves together the prophetic words of Taras Shevchenko and Lina Kostenko with ancient icons, Cossack history, and the avant-garde art of Kazimir Malevich. From the naive motifs of Maria Prymachenko to the mosaics of Alla Horska and the traditional crafts of Kosiv ceramics and straw weaving, this work is a living chronicle etched by light onto fabric.

Poppy Heads: At the center, dried poppy heads act as “safes” for memory. Each seed represents a name or a voice to be carried forward, suggesting that memory never dies—it simply sleeps in seeds, waiting for the right time to sprout.

Poppy Flowers: Lush blooms along the edges symbolize the cyclical nature of existence and the continuity of life.

“Memory Map” is a reflection of pride and certainty in our genus—knowing where we come from and with what heritage we step into the future.

Memory map, 2026

1m90сm*1m15сm

Cyanotypes with poppies, symbols
of memory

40*30cm, 23*23cm, 15*40cm

Visualization of the project on the wall in the exhibition space

Awards

Sony World Photography Awards 2025, Shortlist

worldphoto.org

Publications

ARTDOC Photography Magazine, issue 5, Amsterdam, 2025

instagram.com

Запис Memory map спершу з'явиться на Nataliia Hresko.

Native

admin — Sat, 23 May 2026 11:53:43 +0000

Projects

Native

Timeline: 2025 – ongoing
Medium: Eco-friendly papier-mâché (recycled egg cartons and waste paper), collage of original digital photographs
Quantity: 3 objects completed, 6 in progress
Print: Canson photo paper

In this project, I create papier-mâché objects modelled after traditional Ukrainian utilitarian pottery. Reflecting my commitment to sustainable art, I craft these forms using recycled materials, such as egg cartons and waste paper. I then cover these objects with collages of my own photographs, reflecting a search for “native” symbols and the longing experienced during my displacement abroad at the start of the war.

During my temporary move abroad, my perception of the world there changed from admiration to a subconscious search for analogies with what remained in the Motherland.

Amsterdam’s modern buildings at sunset reminded me of Esplanadna Street in Kyiv, and a local railway tower evoked the view of the Hlibnya at St. Sophia Cathedral. When a neighbour gifted me a plate with Dutch decorative painting, I immediately recognised its striking similarity to Kosiv motifs, despite the different color palette.

These “volume collages” juxtapose urban and park landscapes of Ukraine and the Netherlands on papier-mâché bowls and jugs. These vessels represent the continuity of daily routine; even in displacement, they allowed me to maintain the domestic rituals of cooking and serving food just as I did at home.

Exhibition:

“Exhibition of Seven,” Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora, Kyiv (May–June 2025).

Noggin, 2025
D 20cm
H 12cm

Bowl, 2025
D 26cm
H 9cm

Jug, 2025
D 20сm
H 25cm

Awards

Sony World Photography Awards 2025, Shortlist

worldphoto.org

Publications

ARTDOC Photography Magazine, issue 5, Amsterdam, 2025

instagram.com

Запис Native спершу з'явиться на Nataliia Hresko.

Nature and garbage

admin — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 20:09:30 +0000

Projects

Nature and garbage

In our daily lives we produce a huge amount of waste. These are packaging materials, wrapping materials, packaging containers, glass, objects made of metal and plastic. Recycling will solve the problem of waste. To survive in the future, we need to reconsider our habits, abandon excessive consumption, implement smart production of things and protect the environment for future generations. By weaving together organic and artificial elements, I hope to challenge deeper reflections on humanity’s role in creating a more sustainable relationship with the environment.

Project “Nature and Garbage” includes three interconnected series:

– series “Nature and Garbage”, 12 digital photography
– series “Trace”, 27 cyanotype prints,
– series “Creativity”, 17 collages

Series “Nature and Garbage”. The organic versus the artificial. How do we find balance and build a meaningful, high-quality life?

By creating cyanotype prints, with the same garbage as still life, I provoke thinking about what trace we leave for the future generations. Anna Atkins, who used cyanotype for her work, left us a catalog of botanical illustrations. These cyanotypes are an allegory of what we are leaving for future generations.

By creating collages with the same garbage I transforming trash into an artistic medium, I reveal its hidden texture, form, and chromatic potential. I deliberately reject the somber aesthetic of the landfill, choosing instead to integrate these discards into highly composed and aesthetic arrangements. The vibrant colours and organic interaction of shapes turn discarded items into compelling objects of attention.
Through these compositions, I invite the viewer to question the very notion of “trash” and realize that every object holds the potential for transformation and a second life.

As an artist from Ukraine, my work would be incomplete without addressing the ecological and humanitarian consequences of the war. Through the concluding photograph of the series, I emphasize that war inflicts not only human casualties but also ecocide—the systematic destruction of the environment.

In the series “Nature and Garbage” I demonstrate the critical importance of protecting the environment. Today, the ecocide and destruction caused by russia, a terrorist state that has unleashed war, can lead to dire consequences not only in Ukraine, but also negatively affect the global ecology as a whole.

Awards

Sony World Photography Awards 2025, Shortlist

worldphoto.org

Publications

ARTDOC Photography Magazine, issue 5, Amsterdam, 2025

instagram.com

Запис Nature and garbage спершу з'явиться на Nataliia Hresko.

Reflections on memory

admin — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 11:17:23 +0000

Projects

Reflections on memory

The photographs of this series “Reflections on memory” are made of flowers, everyday objects and elements of nature. As a special fragment in each of the photos, I use samples of national embroidered patterns. Combining everyday, aesthetic and national objects, I reflect on how we, Ukrainians, managed not to lose our identity during the totalitarian Soviet regime. Moreover, we have not only preserved it, but are reviving it in the modern independent Ukraine.
Now, despite Russian aggression, interest in our native, national identity is growing among Ukrainians. We are discovering new names in literature, music, art and public life. We are exploring those pages of our history, which were carefully erased and rewritten in the past. As a nation, we are consolidating and continuing to create our identity, relying on experience.
The series is full of symbolism. It includes 8 photographs:

1 Beginning
2 Connection
3 Memory
4 Withdrawal

5 Disappearance
6 Metamorphoses
7 Restoring
8 Becoming

Awards

Publications

ARTDOC Photography Magazine, issue 5, Amsterdam, 2025

Запис Reflections on memory спершу з'явиться на Nataliia Hresko.

Overcoming limitations

admin — Sat, 25 May 2024 21:46:28 +0000

Projects

Overcoming limitations

If you find yourself without the usual means and objects for creativity, will you be able to continue creating? Is it possible to create something interesting from what happens to be in your hands?

In this series – my own thoughts and reflections about the process of creation in situations that limit us. I only had scraps of plastic, I bought needles because I needed them in everyday life and used them for creativity. I twisted sheets of plastic, arbitrarily giving them shapes. They became the objects of the shooting. My son was playing nearby with a tennis racket and a ball. And at some point the ball got into the shooting zone. I put it on the figure and it turned out to be appropriate and symbolic for me.

Then I thought that often in moments of limited possibilities, when we put forth effort despite everything, we get more, like this tennis ball to the shapes we just created.

Publications

Book 100 Contemporary Ukrainian Photographers

Awards

Linglist Aesthetica Art Prise 2025, UK

Linglist Aesthetica Art Prise

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I collect flowers for life

admin — Mon, 20 May 2024 20:04:46 +0000

Projects

I collect flowers for life

I started creating this series in the Netherlands, where I temporarily stayed due to the war in Ukraine. Sadness for the Motherland, warryes, prompted me to create something very native. Our ancestors decorated the house for the holidays with flower wall paintings, or painted household items, children’s toys. This is how the best examples of Petrykivskyi, Yavorivskyi, and Simchichskyi paintings arose. Collecting flower compositions, I am trying to get closer to their way of depicting the world. I am looking for a method to create simple and understandable images, to talk about my pain, sadness, fascination and dreams.

Turning to flowers during the difficult time of the war, I also found support in this. This way of creating is not an escape, but rather a defense against reality. It is a way of confrontation and a message that the world is simple and understandable when you marvel at it.

The series includes more than fifty floral still life. I continue to create artworks of this series and each work that’s created really comes from the heart and connects me to our roots.

Awards

Publications

23rd Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, FotoNosrtum Magazine», page 266-267

Book 100 Contemporary Ukrainian Photographers, page 84-85

Сatalog of the ||| International Bienniale of Ukrainian Artistic Photography, page 8-11

Запис I collect flowers for life спершу з'явиться на Nataliia Hresko.

Without air

admin — Mon, 20 May 2024 19:04:35 +0000

Projects

Without air

It’s hard to describe your emotions when your country is at war. The world that you previously nurtured and built is crumbling like a sandcastle. The “Without air” series was born from my own experience. It consists of a self-portrait and an image of fruits and flowers in vacuum packaging. Vacuuming extends the shelf life. By leaving Ukraine, my home, I saved myself and my children, but I deprived myself of the opportunity to feel and breathe freely. I felt like I’m in a vacuum. Destruction, human losses, separation from dear people deprived me of the organicity of being.

Awards

Запис Without air спершу з'явиться на Nataliia Hresko.

Building a temporary home

admin — Mon, 20 May 2024 18:04:54 +0000

Projects

Building a temporary home

I created series `Building a temporary home` in Amsterdam, where I was temporarily staying with my children due to the war in Ukraine. We tried to build their temporary “home” in the rented apartment. I conveyed the experiences and emotions of this difficult period through my still lifes. Forced changes, complex experiences of children and their own, the search for balance and supports, longing for the homeland – in the following still lifes and collages.

Awards

Запис Building a temporary home спершу з'явиться на Nataliia Hresko.

Inspired by someone else’s home

admin — Mon, 20 May 2024 17:05:10 +0000

Projects

Inspired by someone else’s home

The series “Inspired by someone else’s home” is a continuation of the series “From routine to inspiration, from fear to faith”. Escaping from the war, I was to go to Europe with my children. Looking for shelter, we changed cities, apartments, several times. Vegetables, fruits, household trinkets, toys I combined in the composition in every home. Now these are reflections about a peaceful life, about the high value of ordinary things that imperceptibly created everyday happiness: play with children, traveling, family dinners and communication with friends. Тhen this was sorely lacking…

Awards

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Homesickness

admin — Mon, 20 May 2024 16:55:59 +0000

Projects

Homesickness

A short description of the series can best be described with words from the song of the Ukrainian band "One in a canoe":

“The point is
That I have no home
And according to the rule of good tone
As per the rule of a good belt
I will remember which tribe
I am from
I will remember from which city…
I don’t have a home…
I don’t have a home”…

Story

This series is a story the pain of many Ukrainians. Russia’s military aggression on our land forced millions of my compatriots to leave their homes and escape the war by fleeing and moving to safer places. The participants of this project lived in Ukraine, and now they are scattered across Europe. The real test is longing for the homeland, uncertainty about the future. Everyone misses their home, favourite things or just little things that added cosiness and comfort to the home. Everyone wants to return as soon as possible. Danilo is a student from Kyiv. Because of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, he had to FB flee his Motherland. He went to live in the Netherlands to be safe and continue studying. He wants to return home.

Katerina is an art student from Kiev. The war in Ukraine made her go to Belgium to finish your study year. She wants to return home. This is my story as well, I am from Kyiv. When the Russian army was trying to surround Kyiv, we made a hard decision to leave everything we had behind me and went to Lviv. I really want to return home. Ksenia lives in Vyshneve, near Kyiv. With the beginning of war she took two of her children and went to live in Bulgaria. She wants to return home. Next girl’s name is Teresa. Her native city is Lviv. Since the war started she, her brother and mother live in Poland. They want to return home. Thousands of Ukrainian children have suffered in this war, because of russian invasion on our motherland. Many children will never come home, because it is destroyed, many of them will never because they were killed…

Awards

Запис Homesickness спершу з'явиться на Nataliia Hresko.