Once Leda Found an Egg – Blue Like a Hyacinth

Central to Kulikovska’s work is a feminist critique of power. Kulikovska’s artistic practice is deeply rooted in personal and national histories. Her work reflects the traumatic consequences of war, forced migration, and the ongoing struggle for self-expression and bodily autonomy. Born in Kerch, Crimea, Kulikovska was banned from her homeland following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Her political performances have placed her on Russia’s intelligence "blacklist," subjecting her to surveillance and persecution. Despite these threats, she has continued to stage protest actions across Ukraine and Europe, amplifying her resistance to colonial and patriarchal structures. In 2014, the same year she was banned, Russian forces seized the international art center Izolyatsia in Donetsk, where Kulikovska’s work had been exhibited. The center was transformed into a prison and torture chamber, and Kulikovska’s sculptures—casts of her own naked, vulnerable body—were destroyed. These casts, symbolic of resilience and vulnerability, were later found in fragments by prisoners. Reflecting on these and following events, Kulikovska’s work seeks to emancipate women’s bodies and empower voices resisting oppressive power structures. 

The exhibition title draws from a fragment of Sappho’s lost verse: “They say once Leda found an egg—blue like a hyacinth.” The myth of Leda’s assault by Zeus in the form of a swan has long justified violence against the female body. Sappho’s version seems to be an alternative: Leda discovers an egg—a symbol of life’s beginning—left by another woman, who was also escaping from the god. The term "ovaries" derives from the Greek "ōón," meaning "egg." Is the egg violently torn from Leda, or does she find a miracle—new life awaiting her embrace?

Motherhood, chosen through mutual love after trauma and amidst danger, marks a new stage in Kulikovska’s work. While ovaries and a womb are not necessary to be a mother, nor do they define a necessity to be a woman, Kulikovska’s new works tell the story of a mother and daughter who shared one body—by choice. Created with the women of her family from Crimea—mothers and healers—Kulikovska’s works, presented in this show, are rooted in their shared resilience.

The threats of assault reflected in the myth are ever-present for women's bodies, with war being the most violent form, seeking to abuse everything fragile and weak. For over a decade, Kulikovska has explored the body’s capacity to endure pain and resist—both immediate and historical. Flowers often appear in her works as memento mori, symbols of life’s fragility, but at the same time, these flowers may be the healing herbs from the artist’s homeland. 

Curator: Maria Vtorushina