Zinaida's 'Without Women' at Venice Biennale Explores Gender and War

At the 59th Venice Biennale, Ukrainian multimedia artist Zinaida presents 'Without Women,' an installation at Spiazzi near the Arsenale, curated by Peter Doroshenko and organized by the Visual Research Support Foundation Charitable Organization. The work, developed since 2017, uses large-scale video and photography to examine gender roles, mythology, and folklore, set in the Carpathian Mountains where she documents shepherds' isolated lives. The exhibition is split into two parts due to shipping difficulties from Ukraine: the first, opening April 23, features three video projections with tactile and olfactory elements; the second, 'The Milk of Life,' a photographic installation about sheep milk production, will open one month after the war in Ukraine ends. 'Without Women' is a collateral event of the Biennale, alongside 'This is Ukraine: Defending Freedom' organized by PinchukArtCentre and Viktor Pinchuk's foundation, and the Biennale's 'Piazza Ucraina' project at the Giardini, featuring a monument wrapped in sandbags referencing the protection of public art from bombings. Zinaida states that the work reveals how people fully show their true nature under difficult conditions, with the absence of women symbolizing invisible feminine energy alongside the masculine.