The launch of the new edited volume Ukraine Between Identity Construction and Anti-Colonial Resistance” took place at the Shevchenko Scientific Society in New York. The book, edited by Svitlana Biedarieva—art historian, artist, and curator—explores Ukrainian art in the context of war, decolonial resistance, and identity transformation.
This was reported Shevchenko Scientific Society.
The publication, released by Routledge in 2025, brings together essays that examine key periods of transformation in Ukrainian art—from the Orange Revolution, through the Revolution of Dignity, to Russia’s full-scale invasion. The contributors analyze art as a form of resistance, as a tool for reinterpreting the Soviet legacy, and as a means of constructing contemporary Ukrainian identity.
Special attention is given to themes such as decolonial liberation, representation of violence, critique of imperial narratives, and the role of the artist in times of war. The volume has already garnered interest among scholars of art history, cultural studies, postcolonial and decolonial studies, and Eastern European studies.
The volume is structured around three thematic sections: “Solidarity,” “Identity,” and “Decoloniality.” Contributors include leading scholars from Ukraine, the United States, and Europe, such as Ksenia Nouril, Asia Bazdyrieva, Jessica Zychowicz, Oleksandra Osadcha, Alisa Lozhkina, Kateryna Filyuk, Illia Levchenko, Kateryna Botanova, among others.
The foreword to the volume was written by literary scholar and President of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in the U.S.,Vitaly Chernetsky, who also served as the moderator for the book launch event in New York.
Attendees had the opportunity to ask questions and engage in a discussion about the new challenges Ukrainian culture faces in the ongoing struggle for freedom and dignity.
Svitlana Biedarieva expressed her gratitude to the organizers, noting that the New York presentation served as an important platform for reflecting on the role of Ukrainian art within the global discourse of resistance.
She notes that *“Ukrainian art today not only documents history in real time, but also shapes ideas of national dignity, freedom, and justice.”*
Background Svitlana Biedarieva is an art historian, artist, and curator. She is the author of the book Ambicoloniality and War: The Ukrainian-Russian Case (2025), the editor of Contemporary Ukrainian and Baltic Art: Political and Social Perspectives, 1991–2021 (2021), and the co-editor of At the Front Line. Ukrainian Art, 2013–2019 (2019). She has published texts in leading academic journals and media outlets, such as October, Daedalus, Financial Times, and The Art Newspaper. She holds a PhD in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London.
Author: Inna Mikhno