SHATTERED: SYMBOLIC GESTURE

One year since the start of Russia’s unprovoked, illegal aggression on Ukraine, we’re acknowledging the resilience of the Ukrainian people and the solidarity shown by Romania and the rest of the peace-loving world through a project that demonstrates the power of the visual art and the spoken word to denounce the ordeals and preserve the memory of these tragic times. Presented in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute of America (UAI), "SHATTERED: Symbolic Gesture" is a large-scale international collaboration that consists of a multimedia exhibition, conceived by the Romanian-Canadian visual artist and polygraph Oana Maria Cajal, accompanied by a series of video-poems and public readings, offered by U.S.-based Romanian and Ukrainian poets.

After a successful opening in a simplified version during UAI’s Open House on February 24, the complete exhibition will be presented at the Romanian Cultural Institute on March 7 in the presence of the artist Oana Maria Cajal and will be complemented by a series of readings from poetry written in reaction to the war in Ukraine offered by Adina Dabija, Mihaela Moscaliuc, Olena Jennings, Claudia Serea, Adela Sinclair, Vera Sirota. With opening remark by Kathy Nalywajko, the president of the Ukrainian Institute of America.

The art and poetry project, initially presented in Italy as part of La MaMa Umbria International in June 2022 and at the Bucharest International Poetry Festival in September 2022, has so far featured Ana Blandiana, Angela Baciu, Cristina A. Bejan, Cătălina Florescu, Ioana Ieronim, Nora Iuga, Olena Jennings, Ruth Margraff, Dzvina Orlowsky, Claudia Serea, and Sylvie Simmons.

The multimedia exhibition includes 24 collages – “picto-impulses” as described by Oana Maria Cajal – which bear the visceral imprint of an artist confronted with the horrors of war and in awe with the Ukrainian people’s stoic resourcefulness. The works are displayed together with an art & poetry video made by Ștefan Cajal and with music by famed american composer and pianist Michael Roth.

The exhibition at the Romanian Cultural Institute’s "Brâncuși Gallery" will be open between March 7-24, 2023.