‘Between Voice and Silence’ opens at Duderstadt Gallery
The University of Michigan’s Arts Initiative announced earlier this year awarding funding to 11 faculty-led projects across the university through its Winter 2025 Arts Initiative Project Support grants.
These grants support efforts that expand access to the arts, encourage interdisciplinary collaboration, and engage campus and community audiences in creative learning experiences.
The “Between Voice and Silence” exhibition is opening Sept. 14 at the Duderstadt Center Gallery. This work is Katya Lisova’s “The Only Way if to Fly.”
One project this fall is “Boat for Maksym and Other Stories,” led by artist and ceramicist Ira (Irina) Bondarenko. While pursuing her passion for ceramics, she had a tenure with U-M’s Biostatistics Department in the School of Public Health, where she worked for over 20 years. She is currently pursuing her MFA degree at the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design.
This project invites audiences to explore the role of empathy and compassion in times of crisis through the lens of Ukrainian artists and poets. Through an upcoming art exhibition, “Between Voice and Silence,” at the Duderstadt Center Gallery, it will raise questions about the limits of human agency and individual responsibility in the face of overwhelming force.
The exhibition will be displayed in the Duderstadt Center Gallery from Sept. 14-Oct. 5.
Dedicated to the fallen Ukrainian poet Maksym Kryvtsov, the exhibit’s title is borrowed from one of his poems. Kryvtsov was a Ukrainian junior sergeant who was killed Jan. 7, 2024, at the age of 33, reportedly in an artillery strike.
Bondarenko said she started corresponding with Kryvtsov in 2023 while working on the “Guardian Passage” project that incorporated two of his poems. She said she was “drawn to the photographic quality of his poems, their directness, the dissonance between the brutality of the external world and the gentle nature of the emotional landscapes, as well as an overwhelming sense of kindness.”
“Maksym posted his poems from the frontline on FB, and I tried to provide feedback and keep the conversation going,” she said. “He was so happy that his poems were read miles away, across the ocean. I was thrilled to learn that a book of his poetry, ‘Poems From the Loophole,’ was published, and wrote him a long note saying that I would be going to Kyiv, and we should talk about having his book translated into English. In just a few weeks, Maksym was killed.”
Exploring the role of empathy and humanity in the times of crisis, Ukrainian and American artists Katya Lisova (textiles), Matvii Vaisberg (prints), and Ira Bondarenko (ceramics) reflect on the power and limits of human agency in the face of overwhelming force.
“I am fortunate to receive the U-M Arts Initiative grant to organize this exhibition and bring Katya and Matvii from Kyiv, Ukraine, and share their art and experiences of being artists in times of war,” Bondarenko said. “I believe that the value of such a connection for Ann Arbor audiences, U-M students in particular, cannot be overestimated.”
The value of humanity lies in its capacity to transcend adversity by embracing compassion and keeping empathy and human connection alive in the most oppressive darkness. The project examines this concept through the lens of Ukrainian artists and poets and emphasizes the role of ordinary people in building resilience and saving the country.
The exhibition was made possible by the U-M Arts Initiative Grant and co-sponsored by the Center for Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies and the Ann Arbor Chapter of Ukrainian National Women’s League of America.
Click here for more information about the exhibition and here for more about AIPS grants.
