The Ukrainian Catholic University has opened an exhibition of contemporary Ukrainian icons titled “Of Heaven and Earth,” which became the culmination of the Second Charity Icon-Painting Plein Air. Next year, the project will be presented in the United States as part of the University of Notre Dame’s Ukrainian Studies Conference program.
This was reported by Ukrainian Catholic University.
On August 30, an exhibition of contemporary Ukrainian icons titled “Of Heaven and Earth” opened at the Church of Holy Wisdom of God at the Ukrainian Catholic University. The exhibition is the result of UCU’s Second Charity Icon-Painting Plein Air, which took place in the Carpathians this summer and brought together 18 Ukrainian artists.
The exhibition will remain on view at UCU through September 14, after which selected works will become part of the international project “Of Heaven and Earth: Ukrainian Sacred Art and the Good Life.”
The project is being implemented by the Ukrainian Catholic University, the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at the University of Notre Dame, and the ICONART Gallery. In 2027, the exhibition is planned to be presented in the United States as part of the University of Notre Dame’s Ukrainian Studies Conference program.
The organizers note that the project’s main goal is to present contemporary Ukrainian iconography to an international audience as a living artistic language capable of speaking about war, human dignity, faith, hope, and the search for fullness of life.
According to UCU, the central themes of this year’s plein air were human dignity, faith, and the search for fullness of life amid war. Over the course of twelve days, the artists worked on new icons, turning to biblical narratives ranging from Holy Week, the death and Resurrection of Christ, to the Ascension.
The starting point for the creative work was Psalm 8, which raises the question of humanity’s place before God. One of the project’s central ideas was to reflect on how biblical narratives resonate with a person experiencing war.
“An icon is an attempt to convey God’s presence through visible things. Every believer who turns to art in the Church seeks to touch divine truth. That is why an icon is the fruit of cooperation between God and the human being, expressed in symbolic language. Icons help us see the invisible and once again remind us of what matters most,” said Fr. Yurii Shchurko, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Theology at UCU.
The organizers emphasize that contemporary Ukrainian icons increasingly avoid direct depictions of war, instead interpreting it through biblical narratives. Fear, anticipation, sacrifice, separation, and hope take on new meaning for people living through war.
Plein air curator and artist Uliana Krekhovets emphasizes that contemporary icon painting continues tradition while also reflecting on present-day experience.
“The Ukrainian icon remains in dialogue with tradition, but it does not exist outside of time. The artist inherits images, compositions, and the theological memory of previous centuries while also bringing into them personal experience and vision, as well as the experience of the community to which they belong. In this way, the icon once again becomes a place of encounter: between tradition and modernity, between personal experience and collective memory, between what we see and what we continue to believe in. Between heaven and earth,” she said.
Icon painter, art historian, and exhibition curator Roman Zilinko noted that every era develops its own artistic language.
“Every age has its own language. And the art of every era, including church and sacred art, also has its own language. That is why it is so important that contemporary icons and icon painting exist today. This exhibition is another step that connects us — people of the present day — with God, who is eternal, and with Christian culture, which has two thousand years of history,” he emphasized.
Artists from different cities across Ukraine took part in the plein air. A distinctive feature of this year’s project was that artist Sviatoslav Vladyka, who has served in Ukraine’s Defense Forces since 2022, created his works directly at the front. Some of the other artists also worked remotely.
Photo: Ukrainian Catholic University
Prepared by: Inna Mikhno