Lesia Maruschak is a Canadian artist of Ukrainian descent. Her work addresses cultural identity, and it is grounded in her lineage and connection to both Canada and Ukraine. She is at heart an historical storyteller, and an artist whose work encompasses collective and individual memory. Her series often include intricate and highly coveted limited edition art books, fine art photographs and touring exhibitions. These projects are based on specific historical events including the Soviet Ukraine Holodomor genocide, the internment of ethnocultural communities during the Great War, as well as more projects about her relationship to family and the land where she grew up. Currently Maruschak is using analogue materials to create silver gelatin photo-paintings. By pushing this tradition medium beyond its boundaries, she is exploring the fleetingness, mobility, and affective power of images. This new artistic gesture is her means of creating a synergistic relationship between the past and current global issues surrounding displacement and the subsequent personal and cultural ramifications of exile.
Maruschak works and lives between Alvena and Ottawa. She holds a MA from the University of Saskatchewan, and a MBA from the University of Ottawa. She studied Fine Art in the US and Romania. Her works are represented in the collections of
The National Art Library,
Victoria and Albert Museum,
Thomas Watson Library at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, the a href="https://www.mep-fr.org/" class="ft-500" target="_blank">Maison Européenne de la Photographie,
Boston Athenaeum,
City of Ottawa Art Collection,
David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University,
Green Library-Special Collections at Stanford University,
Rare Books & Special Collections at the Library of Congress,
Butler Library-Special Collections at Columbia University, among many others. Maruschak
VYDNO Collective is working on its first project
Poems of Our Children which explores the plight of children impacted by genocide, war, internment, and other atrocities, funded by the Canada Council of the Arts. Maruschak is also currently completing two books concerning Canada’s first world war internment operations funded by the Canada First World War Internment Recognition Endowment Council.
About Project MARIA
"Project MARIA memorializes the millions of victims of the 1932-33 genocide-famine in Soviet Ukraine. It functions as a mobile multimedia installation and includes artwork, film, and performance, inspired by a single vernacular photograph of a young girl, Maria F., who survived the Holodomor and currently resides in Canada. Holodomor refers to the genocide manufactured by Stalin and the Politburo in Soviet Ukraine during 1932-1933. Despite an estimated death toll of over four million by forced starvation the Holodomor, remains largely ignored in the context of global genocides.
As Ukrainians worldwide prepare for the 2023 90th Anniversary of the Holodomor, Russia is committing another act of genocide in Ukraine. With the 2022 invasion, Russia acts as a ruthless arbiter of life and death, destroying infrastructure, cultural institutions, language, the environment, cities, homes, and families, showing no respect for the rule of law. Its impact - personal and collective, local and international; its survivors – maimed victims, husbands, mothers, children, and rape victims. It has brought about a humanitarian crisis and wave of displacement not seen since WWII. Project MARIA is not about the past. It is a vector pointing to what is happening right before our eyes."
