Let's CEE welcomes you to
artCEE
"Resilience to me" - an online exhibition of creators, artists, and enthusiasts across Central and Eastern Europe.
"And finally, at home"
Maria Milenova
Bulgaria
Resilience to me signifies one's ability to pick up where you left off and continue, despite not being at home or not feeling safe. I painted the painting in the photo many years ago, but I did not always have it on display. When I finally did, it was at a place I was happy to call home for a while. One evening, as the sun was setting, I took this photo. Ever since, whenever I feel anxious I look at it (the photo, interestingly, not the painting itself) and I feel this wave of calm washing over me. This feeling, to me, represents a tiny moment in time my mind needs to recalibrate.
"The Hunter"
Kiril Kinchev
Bulgaria
Shared by Maria Milenova, with the following message: If possible, I would like to make two submissions: one for myself and one on behalf of my grandad who is sadly no longer with us, but whose resilience has stayed with me as a reminder through the years.I wanted to share this photo of a carving in wood made by my grandad in 1989. I knew he liked staying busy and was always very detail oriented but it wasn't until recently, when my grandma actually told me that my grandad had always wanted to be an artist. The times during his youth were so harsh, that that would have been impossible. Working at a steel factory and later in the army, were the only ways he could have ensured the financial stability of his family. "The Hunter" currently hangs at home, where I see it every day. It reminds me of my grandad's resilience and how much his art meant to him, that he continued with it whenever he found a bit of time, even without ever having any formal training. I imagine that these stolen moments must have meant so much to him and must have been so important for the wellbeing of his internal world.
I am alone at sea
I am alone at sea.
Yesterday’s winds showed no mercy,
and tomorrow, they likely won’t either.
I wonder
Will my sail endure?I am alone at sea.
The safe harbor feels distant,
almost out of reach.
Clouds have swallowed every star.
I wonder
Should I sink with the anchor?Still, I sway on, bravely,
because if I can’t move forward today,
at least I won’t drift back.The waves do not frighten me.
Tomorrow’s wind will carry me further.
And the sharp rocks that could tear through my ship?
They remain far away,
for I am alone at sea.
Roberto Mužić
Croatia
Tree of resilience
Nikoleta Laškotiová
Slovakia
A felszínen maradni
R. Nagy Krisztián
Hungary
Yevheniia Usychenko
Ukraine
Photo #1 - Resilience to me is creativity of going on when you are short in resources.
Photo #2 - Resilience to me is being effective in chaos.
Photo #3 - Resilience to me is supporting each other.
Photo #4 - Resilience to me is in bright colours within the dark realities.
Photo #5 - Resilience to me is admiring each sunset and sundown.
Photo #6 - Resilience to me is in the art that we are creating ourselves.
Photo #7 - Resilience to me is the ability to note the beauty in the everyday moments.
Photo #8 - Resilience to me is when you do not care what everyone else is thinking.
Photo #9 - Resilience to me is having your own time alone with yourself.All the photos were taken in Ukraine.
ROMAGYAR
Rossz a magyar, fél és gyáva.
nem épít az igazára.
Angyalnak reméli magát,
s nincsen szárnya.Városokba tömörülnek,
jókedvük van, nem örülnek.
Gyűlölettel, ha szeretnek,
az az ünnep.Cigány vagyok, mende-monda.
Fajtámnak sincs reám gondja.
Fehér ing a lelkem. Isten
kigombolja.
Jónás Tamás
Hungary
PROPAGANDA
Rita Adamik
Hungary
Just having to swallow things whole, even as they break your hand in the process. That’s probably how ordinary people in Hungary have felt over the past year. They’ve torn apart the education system, the healthcare system—they didn’t even spare child protection. The bugs are coming! And indeed! Shouting and proselytizing have turned into revered change.
I just feel like I’m finally breathing. In memory of my long-delayed thesis. The European Union has ruled: the propaganda law is a violation of the law.
Together, we bloom
Irina Dobrean
Romania
Silence of a Mountain
Burhan Yilmaz
Turkey
Acrylic on canvas, 30x50 cm.
Resilience involves a matter of resistance and permanence. I sense resilience in the image of a mountain, in its ability to withstand all kinds of harsh weather conditions. The transitions from a snowy winter to a warm summer, as well as those through spring and autumn, feel like a metaphor for strengthening and revitalization.
Teenergizer
Ukraine
Ulo m (My House)
Jessica Chinonye Ohaka
Nigeria, friend of CEE countries
Visual Art Architectural Blueprint
In Igbo culture, the culture of my people in southeastern Nigeria, the compound, the ulo, is not simply a building. It is the architecture of life. Every room holds a function, every wall holds a story, and the fence that surrounds it all is not a barrier, it is a declaration: something worth protecting lives here."Ulo m" is an architectural blueprint of an Igbo compound but instead of rooms labelled by function, each space is labelled by the internal work of resilience.The Obi is the central hall of dignity labelled as: Where I chose myself.
The Kitchen Hut is where sustenance is made from almost nothing labelled as: Where I learned to create from very little.
The Entrance is what you show the world before they see the rest labelled as: The version of me I had to build before people believed in the real one.
The Backyard is private, unseen, tended quietly labelled as: Where I grieve. Where I rest. Where nobody watches.
The Room Still Under Construction drawn in dotted lines, walls unfinished is labelled as: My future. I am still building it.
The Compound Wall is what holds and protects everything labelled as: Boundaries. The last thing I built. The most important.At the heart of the compound, where Igbo families place the symbolic hearth, sits a single word: Olile anya meaning Hope. The thing you look toward.Woven into the borders of the blueprint are Uli patterns, the ancient geometric art that Nigerian women have used for centuries to encode meaning into surfaces, into walls, into skin. They are still here. So am I.
Did the exhibition inspire you?
We are hosting in person exhibitions in various Central-Eastern European cities. Get in touch if you wish to partner to host an exhibition in your city.