Make Pieces from Pieces

Artist(s)

Sasha Shevchenko

Date

December 2022 — March 2023

Making pieces from pieces is an installation project that uses objects as metaphors for fading memories, places of belonging, and the never-ending task of staying resilient in difficult times. Assembling objects and materials is a useful strategy to help us envision and create crucial stories and traditions from very little.

As a person of Ukrainian diaspora, Shevchenko is motivated to invent spaces and projects where traditions can evolve and survive beyond the damaging, scattering and permanent events of migration. More-so, she looks to how it can be a source of play and imagination that goes beyond the rigidity of cultural stereotypes and boxes.

Making pieces from pieces is an urgent skill - a call to do with what we have - because what we have often holds meaning deeply rooted in centuries of human life.

Perched on a window ledge, objects sit and ponder about their past and future, their survival and their destruction - burned wood that will not burn again, clementines and leaves preserved and dehydrated… A handful of seeds… A fragile embroidered cloth… A smudge of charcoal… A fingerprint.

Pieces and pieces are at some point bound to make a story, an origin point, or a place on the map. This points to a possibility, to hope, to a sense of togetherness in a time of separation. To make from pieces is resistance found in Ukrainian hands.

A storefront display features an art exhibition titled "MAKE PIECES FROM PIECES: Material Resilience Through Ukrainian Hands." The window showcases various art pieces, including mixed media and sculptures, set against a white backdrop with large text.
A piece of white paper appears wrinkled with a printed image of two hands reaching toward each other. A thin, dried plant stem is placed on top of the paper, crossing over the hands. The scene is set against a white background.
A burned wooden plank lies on a white surface with pieces of a shattered, painted blue and brown ceramic object scattered on top. In the background, a white cloth with red embroidery is partially visible near a red and white structure.
Close-up of a blackened, charred piece of wood shaped like a bent rod resting on a white surface with scattered ash and soot particles around it. The focus is on the textured, burned end of the wood, highlighting the intricate details of the charred surface.

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