Olena Kayinska

I am Olena Kayinska, an artist based in Lviv, Ukraine. I work in the genre of intellectual primitivism, combining simplified symbolic forms with philosophical and psychological inquiry. My artistic practice began in 2012.

My artistic research centers on trauma and post-traumatic recovery, psychosomatic healing, and the inner depth and complexity of human experience shaped by our awareness of mortality. I explore the tension between resilience and vulnerability, often working with ideas of inner conflict and psychological trauma.

Contemporary life demands endurance: we learn to defend ourselves, compete for space, and struggle for survival. In this state, tenderness and fragility are often pushed out of sight, yet they persist beneath the surface.

I am drawn to what remains hidden — the sensitive, vulnerable self that originates in childhood and retreats into the subconscious in order to survive. I see this hidden layer not as a weakness, but as a source of beauty and truth.

Recently, my practice has also turned toward tranquility. I think of it as an inner river: a state of being that allows a person to feel, observe, and exist without armor. What does it mean to remain oneself across time, to witness life’s flow — joy and grie...

Self-taught

20 June –15 July 2026 – Inner Earth, personal project as part of the Art for Health Congress Showcase within the framework of Healing Arts Ukraine, the Gunpowder Tower (1st location), and the “Bereg” inclusive space (2nd location), Lviv, Ukraine

10 – 31 October 2025 – Last bar before the end of the world, Coffee shop-gallery Art, Lviv, Ukraine

4 October 2025 – Hidden landscape, personal project within the event SOU Sounds of Ukraine, Promislove, Lviv, Ukraine

3 June – 3 July 2025 – Threshold, personal project, Hnat Khotkevych Palace of Culture, Lviv, Ukraine

25 May 2025 – Which is beginningless and will be endless, personal project, art residency NAHR, Sottochiesa, Italy

10 – 28 February 2025 – Threshold, personal project, Museum of Krakow – Krzysztofory Palace, Krakow, Poland

19 December 2024 – Threshold, personal project, café – book store Night, Krakow, Poland

21 – 26 May 2024 – Dream of a sleep, personal project, Galleria Gjutars, Vantaa, Finland

11 April – 5 May 2024 – Trauma. Body of war, personal project, Art Cluster Na Poshti, Ternopil, Ukraine

18 May – 18 June 2023 – Realm of Highness, personal project, KONTORA, Lviv, Ukraine

14 May 2023 - Trauma, personal project, as part of the event "Return of Strength. Medita...