Ellaya Yefymova

Ellaya Yefymova (b. 1990, Ukraine) is a dark artist whose work fuses her medical background with a deep appreciation for science, art, and the human body. Her artistic journey began in 2020, sparked by global lockdown and a period of maternity leave, which allowed her to reassess her goals and fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming an artist.

In 2020 she was a nominee for Portal Art prize (Kyiv, Ukraine), in 2021 - for Art Gemini prize (London, UK). In 2023, she participated in the London Art Biennale. Following the outbreak of war in 2022, Ellaya relocated to Lisbon, Portugal, where her work began to delve into themes of mortality and the perception of death as a powerful motivation to live this life consciously.

Influenced by the concept of vanitas, Ellaya explores the transience of life and the inevitability of death. Unlike the allegorical art of Baroque vanitas, which often concealed symbolic meanings, her work is more direct, offering reflections on mortality without romanticizing death, but also without frightening by it. Her aim is to reinterpret the Memento Mori tradition with a modern lens, layering it with new meaning.

Ellaya views art as a universal language capable of uniting people. She believes it is time for huma...

2000 - 2004 - Art school 3 in Zaporizhzhia,
Ukraine.
2007 - 2013 - Bogomolets National Medical University, general medicine.
2008 - 2010 - Kruchinina Interregional Academy, Faculty of Design.
2021 - School of Contemporary Art, Artist programme, Kyiv, Ukraine.
2023 - mentorship by Henrik Uldalen.

2024 - Vision Art Fair (Lisbon)
2023 - London Art Biennale
2023 - exhibition “Ukrainian wave”, “Espaço Quadrasoltas” gallery, Porto.
2023 - exhibition “Ukraine - from wheat to storm”, Berlin (MDA - Menu Das Artes)
2022 - Charity exhibitions for Ukraine in Lisbon and Oeiras (Portugal)
2021 - international exhibition “DE.MO”, M.A.D.S. Art gallery, Milan (Italy), Fuerteventura (Canary Islands)
2021 - exhibition of nominees for ArtGemini Prize 2021, The Exhibitionist hotel, London
2021 - international exhibition “What is art”, Boomer gallery, London, UK
2021 - international exhibition “Familiar Strangers”, online art gallery Vacant Museum
2021 - virtual group show (4 paintings), Virtual FLUX gallery
2021 - international initiative “NFT4ThePlanet”
2020 - exhibition of nominees for Portal Art Prize 2020 “A wonderful new world?», Portal 11 gallery, Kiev, Ukraine.