Maria Kulikovska: Art in Ukraine – Challenges and Opportunities Following RAFT CRIMEA

The conflict in Eastern Ukraine displaced nearly two million people within Ukraine, many of them fled to Kyiv and so did Maria Kulikovska after violence escalated in 2014 where she continued her art work.

In her project RAFT CRIMEA Maria Kulikovska says" The raft «Crimea» is both, an artwork and a real political proposal. Water routes have always defined the development of states. Thousands of people, who are deprived of their homes, seeking for better life, safety, or simply a possibility of survival, are moving today on boats and rafts to the shores, where no one is neither waiting for them, nor wants to see them. The vast population of the new republic, which is not marked on the map, is drifting on the waves: the phantom republic of migrants. Anyone can become its citizen one day. The «Crimea» life raft will become its embassy, a displaced parliament for all of those who are devoid of place and political representation.