After nearly 40 hours of installation work, Alina Ihnatesku `26 opened her unnamed art show in the Edith Renfow Smith `37 Gallery. This exhibit, which covers the walls of the gallery in detailed stencil art, is an homage to her home in the west of Ukraine.
“This is kind of like a love letter to my home and myself,” explained Ihnatesku. She commented that she chose not to name the exhibit because it can speak for itself.
The four walls of the gallery are each covered almost entirely in typographic pieces created using large vinyl stencils and paint. The words “ONE SPRING STRONGER” read in large typewriter-style font on the back wall. The black color of the paint gives the appearance of printed ink.
The adjacent wall displays the same phrase, “ONE SPRING STRONGER,” in Russian with the words broken up around an abstract design.
“Spring is the time when I left my home for the first time,” stated Ihnatesku, “so when the war started in 2022 was the first time I left home.” Russia’s attacks on Ukraine began in February of 2022.
Ihnatesku continues the theme of spring with a piece taking the shape of a large marigold flower. The form is made of small type print letters from the word “чорнобривці,” which means marigold in Ukrainian. Ihnatesku explained that this flower is an important symbol in Ukrainian culture that often represents motherhood, “so this one was dedicated to my mother.”
According to Ihnatesku, art can be a way for her to express her thoughts without needing to talk or explain. As a second-year studio art major, she stated that she wanted to use this gallery space as a way to explore her ideas and art style.
“I feel very vulnerable just putting all of this up in a public space,” she explained, “But I thought it was important, being so far from home, and my parents are so far away and when the country is going through war.”
Ihnatesku’s exhibit will be open until May 3 on the first floor of the Joe Rosenfield `25 Center.
