Yana Bachynska aka Jan Bačynsjkyj

Yana Bachynska aka Jan Bačynsjkyj (born 1991 in Lviv) is a Ukrainian visual artist, curator, and film director whose practice focuses on queering grand narratives. He uses the method of induction, which means going from individual experience to reach the collective one, trying to achieve wholeness within contradictions. He graduated in philosophy from the National University of Taras Shevchenko in Kyiv (2013) and multimedia at the Academy of Art in Szczecin (2019). He is the co-founder of Queer.War.Archive (2024) and Art Platform (2013) through which he was actively involved in inhibiting the processes of gentrification by creating a non-governmental cultural center.

Maramureș Residency

20 June – 7 July

About Săcel Residency

When I arrived in Săcel, I was enveloped by the joy, mountains, childhood, countless carpets, embroideries, and wood carvings. The heat sucked up the scents of hay, livestock. I worked and visited my favorite places: cemeteries and old wooden churches with painted hells and the scent of paradise. I posted stories, and my friends shared about wanting the same gravestones as at the Merry cemetery (Cimitirul Vesel). I said I’d make one for them. I hope it becomes part of my art practice.

It was strange to be so close to the Ukrainian border that my phone alerted me to an air raid, to see so many gold-toothed women in headscarves and embroidered shirts, and not understand a word. It was strange to be with Bangladeshi artists who also did not understand.The sun and occasional rain mixed it all up daily. Now it feels like a strange dream. I’m trying to remember and decipher its meaning.

During the residency I developed a series of three untitled works, upcycled from found textiles, metal, wire, plastics.

Artists for Artists Residency Network (AFAR) is an EU co-funded and co-funded by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund, project and residency program, aiming to improve the mobility of contemporary visual artists and curators in Romania, Germany, Croatia, and Austria. The project is led by the Romanian Association for Contemporary Art (ARAC) with its three consortium partners – Goethe Institute Network, Croatian Association of Fine Artists, and Künstlerhaus Vienna.

The AFAR Network project is co-funded by the European Union: ”Views and opionions expressed are however those of the autohor(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsable for them.”