On August 24th we celebrate independence, at a time when Ukrainians pay an extremely high price for it every day. For us at Ukraine House in Denmark, it was especially important to meet this day with the opening of another major platform of Ukrainian culture in Copenhagen - “NAÏV: Ukrainian Visions” exhibition.

More than 200 guests gathered at Gammel Dok for the opening of the exhibition: representatives of the Danish parliament, the diplomatic corps, cultural institutions, our partners and donors, artists, and many old and new friends of Ukraine. It was an extremely warm evening - with music, conversations, meetings, and guests who didn't rush to leave. And for us, it was also an evening of great gratitude. Because there was a lot on the exhibition that couldn't be captured in the photos.

During the preparation of the exhibition, some of its materials were damaged as a result of a Russian attack on Нова пошта. Due to subsequent logistical complications, there were only three days left for the installation. But the exhibition opened.

Ukraine should not be present in Europe only because of news about war. To understand why Ukraine must stand, it is important for people to know what exactly we are defending - our culture, memory, imagination, people, and what they have created through generations.

NAÏV: Ukrainian Visions - the first exhibition of its kind in Denmark, dedicated to Ukrainian naïve art. Over 100 works by 20 prominent representatives of Ukrainian naive art open up a rich artistic tradition that the Danish audience was almost unaware of until now.

Ukrainian naive art was often created outside of academies and official art institutions - on the walls of houses and barns, on paper, cardboard, fabric, wood. But behind its seemingly simplicity lies a native art language, its own logic and a complex way of understanding life, memory, nature, loss, and beauty. Through the exhibition, the history of our losses - the Holodomor, World War II, Chernobyl, and the current Russian war - is also being told. Ukrainian culture today not only tells its story; it goes through the war and continues to live.

We thank the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Kingdom of Denmark, Andriy Yanevskyi, and the Deputy Speaker of the Danish Parliament, Lars-Christian Brask, for sharing this evening with us. A huge thank you to the curators Anna Gudimova and Nataliia Hnatiuk - for the idea, research, perseverance, and tremendous work that made this exhibition possible.

A special part of the event was the performance by Gordiy Starukh, which combines the centuries-old sound of folk lyric with modern electronic music. 

NAÏV is made possible by a large number of people and institutions.

The works are presented from the collections of The National Museum of Decorative Arts of Ukraine, Ivan Honchar Museum and the Museum for Naive Art.  

Archival materials provided by State Archives of Ukraine, the Central State Audio-Visual and Electronic Archive, State Archives of Cherkasy Region, National Museum of History of Ukraine in World War II, Central State Archives of Civil Associations and Ukrainians, State Archives of Kherson Region, Pokrovsk Historical Museum, and the National History Museum of Ukraine. 

Authors of the texts: Oleksii Ananov, Oleksandr Liapin, Natalka Tymoshenko, Olena Shevchuk, Anna Hudimova, Maryna Bohush, Diana Klochko.

Restorers: Anastasiia Ivanenko, Olesia Hubchenko.

Museum coordination: Liudmyla Strokova, Petro Honchar, Olha Yermak, Kseniia Bashutska, Olena Shevchuk, Oleksandra Storchai.

Design: Kateryna Bolshakova.

Boundless gratitude to the team and volunteers of the Ukrainian House, with thanks to our curator Kateryna Stukalova for the close cooperation with colleagues from Kyiv, and for the representation of the Nordic audience, to all coordinators, crisis managers, and organizers on our behalf - Mariia Marko-Mortensen, Valeriia Prylypko, Daria Boiko, Dariia Mochalova, Marta Turani-Jessen, Oksana Nykytiuk, Julie Arnfred Bojesen, Katrine Kallegauge, Liudmyla Radych, Ihor Alokhin, Serhii Norenko, Kseniia Chychkova, Platon Vozniuk, Nataliia Sherstiuk, Josue Elias Portillo, and new friends Magdalena Lewoc, Danylo Biletskyi.

Sincere gratitude to the partners Ukraine House in Denmark — Politiken Fonden, “NAÏV: Ukrainian Visions” exhibition0 and “NAÏV: Ukrainian Visions” exhibition1 — for the trust and understanding that Ukrainian culture needs not only attention in moments of tragedy. It needs presence, partnership, and investment.

This is why we work at Ukraine House in Denmark - so that Ukrainian culture is visible, recognizable, and present in European cultural space as Ukrainian. To restore the connections that have been erased or appropriated for decades and to give Ukraine the opportunity to speak its own voice.

Our greatest gratitude today goes to the defenders of Ukraine, without whom we could continue to create, preserve, research, and represent Ukrainian culture. Independence for us is above all a right to speak our own voice, to know and preserve our own memory, to create our own culture, and to pass it on to future generations.