Piers Secunda's 'Nature Morte' Uses Ash from Bombed Ukrainian Buildings to Expose War Crimes
The exhibition 'Nature Morte: The Extermination of Ukraine' by British artist Piers Secunda is currently on display at London's Fitzrovia Gallery until 6 September. This showcase highlights the devastation of Ukrainian cultural heritage and the abduction of children by Russia. It includes 21 charcoal ink-on-paper pieces created using soot from a bombed government building in Kharkiv. The artworks, featuring traditional Ukrainian dishes, bear titles like 'The Looting of Ukrainian Art and Culture' and 'The Deportation of Ukrainian Children.' Each piece has a QR code that links to individuals named by the Ukrainian government as involved in these offenses. The exhibition aligns with Ukraine's 35th Independence Day on 24 August and presents a map of 5,048 cultural sites that have suffered damage. Secunda pledges 15% of sales to aid in restoring a cathedral at Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
Key facts
- Exhibition 'Nature Morte: The Extermination of Ukraine' at Fitzrovia Gallery, London, until 6 September.
- Artworks made from soot of a bombed government building in Kharkiv, brought by war correspondent Jerome Starkey.
- 21 charcoal ink-on-paper works depicting traditional Ukrainian foods, arranged in pyramids and vertical displays.
- Each painting includes a QR code linking to an individual identified by the Ukrainian government as complicit in crimes; 21 people named.
- Secunda collaborated with Vladyslav Havrylov, a Ukrainian church historian.
- Patriarch Kirill I of the Russian Orthodox Church is linked via a painting of bread.
- Marina Peschanskaya, ombudswoman for children's rights in Sevastopol, is linked via a turnip image.
- Large-scale map shows 5,048 recorded points of damage to cultural sites across Ukraine.
- 40-minute film by David Miller documents Secunda's research.
- Secunda is donating 15% of sales to restore a cathedral at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
- Exhibition coincided with Ukraine's 35th Independence Day on 24 August and the fifth year of Russia's full-scale invasion.
Entities
Artists
- Piers Secunda
- Jerome Starkey
- Vladyslav Havrylov
- David Miller
Institutions
- Fitzrovia Gallery
- Ukrainian Heritage Monitoring Lab
- Russian Orthodox Church
- Kyiv Pechersk Lavra
- British Museum
- V&A Museum
- Ashmolean Museum
- 9/11 Memorial & Museum
- Iraq National Museum
- Mosul Museum
- UNESCO
- UK Government Art Collection
- Chelsea College of Arts
- Channel 4
- Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra
Locations
- London
- United Kingdom
- Kharkiv
- Ukraine
- Mosul
- Iraq
- Sevastopol
- Crimea
- Kherson
- Zaporizhzhia
- Russia
- Odesa
- Kyiv
- Baghdad
- Alderney
- New York
- United States
- Oxford