When Viktoriia Temnowa reached Berlin via Slovakia in mid-March after fleeing Ukraine, she was certain that she would never press the shutter release of her camera again. Everything in her felt dead, the photographer recalls. Worse still, her life’s work was left behind in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, which was then besieged and bombarded by the Russian army.
“Before the war began at the end of February, I was a well-known photographer in Ukraine, and in March I was left with nothing but a refugee in Berlin,” says Temnova. The photographer lists her most important clients in Ukraine and names fashion magazines such as Vogue and Marie-Claire. Prêt-à-porter, however, did not come before her lens. Temnowa wears boots with a breezy pink top. It reflected the style of the Ukrainian capital.
Playful things like something out of a Japanese manga like to mix with androgyny and a pinch of punk in trendy Kiev districts like Podil. Temnowa also made her own costumes for her shoots. She knew Berlin from vacation trips and visits to friends. “In my old life, Berlin was just a great city that reminded me a lot of Kyiv. Except that everything is much faster in Kyiv,” she says.
Berliner Zeitung/Markus Wachter
Photographer Vika Temnowa
Temnowa sits on a chaise longue in an apartment at Leibnizstraße 57. The high ceilings above her are decorated with stucco. The walls are as pink as Temnowa’s top. A fantasy world in which ideas should become art.
The photographer is one of 16 artists who have moved into rooms in the so-called Art Shelter in Charlottenburg. The name is reminiscent of the English term for air raid shelter, “Air Shelter”. But in the 500 square meters not far from Kurfürstendamm, war is transformed into art. “Make Art, not War,” someone painted on a sofa.
Artists submit applications
As in the entire Ukrainian exile community, the proportion of women predominates in the new artist residency. Two artists are among the 16 chosen by a jury for the living and working project. Due to medical reasons, they are exempt from the martial law ban on the departure of Ukrainian men of military age. The artists are spread out in different rooms in the apartment. Many sit on folding chairs and bend over papers. You must submit applications to the job center. It has been responsible for refugees from the Ukraine since June 1 and also covers the rental costs in the artist residence.
The Berlin real estate experts Maya Miteva and Anaïs Cosneau found the gem on Leibnizstrasse through their women’s network. They advise and support women in buying real estate. The unusual design of the apartment can be explained by its previous use. It once housed a noble brothel. Miteva and Cosneau describe their initial stomach ache at the apartment’s history. Sexual violence against women is one of the dirtiest chapters in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. “But all the artists who were here were immediately drawn to the place,” says Miteva.
Berliner Zeitung/Markus Wachter
Art Shelter in the former brothel
Area covers 500 square meters
In fact, the 500 square meter area offers enough space for the life of the 16 artists as well as for their work and their presentation. The aim is to bring the artists quickly into contact with the Berlin art scene. Private events are planned for this, says Miteva.
How much do we know about Eastern Europe?
Sybill Schulz, Weiberwirtschaft
In addition to the two real estate experts, Sybill Schulz is also part of the network supporting the Art Shelter project. Schulz is a member of the supervisory board at the women’s cooperative Weiberwirtschaft. She also sees the Art Shelter as an opportunity for Berlin’s art scene to sharpen their view of Ukraine and Eastern Europe in general. “How much do we know about Eastern Europe and the changes that have taken place there? I think we haven’t shown enough interest in this in the past. A new dialogue is needed between Eastern and Western Europe, and art can be a medium in this,” says Schulz.
Berliner Zeitung/Markus Wachter
Ukrainian artists in the Art Shelter, a former brothel
Ukrainian art scene looks west
The Ukrainian art scene, on the other hand, has long been looking towards the west. This is related to the conditions in Ukraine, explains the designer, musician and producer Anastasiia Pasechnik. She comes from the north-east Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and lived in Berlin before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is difficult for artists to earn money in Ukraine. The actual market for art from Ukraine has been in Western Europe and the USA for a long time.
My family hasn’t had electricity for days. I can not reach her.
Anastasiia Pasechnik, Art Shelter
Pasechnik whirls between the artists on the sofas and folding chairs through the huge rooms of the apartment. In her life in Berlin she is currently busy organizing the artist residency and has organized furniture for the apartment or donated artist utensils via internet giveaway markets. At the same time, she is absorbed by worries about her family in Kharkiv. True, the Ukrainian army broke the Russian siege ring around the city. But rockets and bombs are still exploding there. “My family hasn’t had electricity for days. I can’t reach her at the moment,” says Pasechnik. She is no different than the other Ukrainians who wanted to start something new around her in the apartment. That’s not easy.
Berliner Zeitung/Markus Wachter
Painter Anton from Mariupol
Artists deal with trauma
In the works they began in Berlin, some artists dealt with the war and their own experiences while fleeing. “Some would rather fly away with their art like the phoenix from the ashes,” says Pasechnik.
Viktoriia Temnova has started taking photos again. At the moment, Ukrainian women in Berlin are her motives. Many of them felt at least internally marked by war and flight and suffered as a result. “I’m doing what I did in Kyiv. I show them that everyone is beautiful,” says the photographer.