About the two artists:
Igor Manko: Writtings On The Wall
Igor Manko was born in Poltava, Ukraine. In 2022 he left the country because of the war. He is now based in Michendorf near Potsdam.
Manko is a photographer and curator. He is a lead curator for VASA Project.
He has curated a number of projects for VASA Project including Kharkiv School of Photography: Soviet Censorship to New Aesthetics, which is also available on the Ukrainian Institute’s website ksp.ui.org.ua. (a VASA partner)
Alena Grom: Inscriptions
Ukrainian artist Alena Grom was born in Donetsk. In January 2014 her family moved into a new house, but two months later she was forced to leave it due to the Russian aggression in Donbas. Her house was robbed and shot down by marauders.
In 2017 she moved to live in Bucha, but after another, now full-scale invasion by Russia in February 2022, Grom and her family became refugees for the second time.
Alena Grom has made numerous projects about the war, concentrating mostly on the human side of it. VASA Project previously presented Grom’s work: The Womb series and her video projects.