After a three-year hiatus, Sculpture by the Sea (SXS) is returning to Bondi’s iconic coastal walk, opening this weekend.
While for Australia that hiatus was caused by pandemic disruptions, for others in the world there has also been a period of conflict. This is acknowledged at this year’s edition of the outdoor sculpture event with a special showcase spotlighting four Ukrainian artists.
It follows a ‘new tradition’ that started in 2019, when 10 Czech and Slovak artists were presented in a focus exhibition to mark the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution – with the enormous pink tank by the Czech Republic’s most controversial artist, David Černý, reborn in Mark’s Park and a hit with visitors.
SXS‘s Founding CEO and Artistic Director David Handley AM said this year’s exhibition reaches back to the 2019 edition when Ukrainian sculptor, Egor Zigura presented a major public work on the Tamarama headland – well before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Ukraine Showcase in 2022, then, comes out of a community rather than conflict. The SXS team had selected Zigura and his brother Nikita to exhibit in the 2020 exhibition – postponed due to COVID – while at the same time holding conversations with the City of Mariupol, on the Black Sea coast of Ukraine, which had invited Handley to organise an exhibition there in late 2021.
But with the encroaching Russian military activity on the border, just 15 kilometres away, the project had to be abandoned. Today Mariupol is occupied by Russia.
The war started just days before Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2022 was staged in Western Australia, with SXS unfurling an enormous Ukrainian flag as part of the event, and in support of sculptors caught up in the conflict.
Handley, said: ‘The unfurling of the 18-metre long Ukrainian flag on Cottesloe Beach meant a lot to our Ukrainian friends and we wanted to do more. This led to seeing if it might be possible to get access to a sufficient number of sculptures to have a showcase of works by Ukrainian artists at Bondi.’
Viktoria Kulikova, Art Director at Abramovych Art Agency in Kyiv, stepped in as Curator, and this weekend four sculptures on the coastal walk and six smaller sculptures in the Sculpture Inside exhibition at Mark’s Park will be unveiled.
The artists are: Dmitriy Grek (Contemplation), Egor Zigura (Colossus Holds Up the World), Nikita Zigura (Global Warming) and Oleksii Zolotariov (Wind Rose).
Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia, said: ‘The dedication of Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2022 to Ukraine shows how artists across the globe and people in cultural management are affected and deeply moved by this war – rallying support for our country, raising funds and bringing awareness to new people.’
This war has provided such a huge impetus for creativity, which I see in Ukraine has inspired many artists, songwriters and sculptors in their work, and it is wonderful to see that creativity spread out across the world, including to Australia.
Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia
Ukrainian connections within Sculpture by the Sea date back to 1998 when Orest Keywan first exhibited in the Bondi event.
‘He has exhibited every year since and received the major award twice,’ said Handley. ‘Technical Consultant and Chief Installer, Yuri Humeniuk, who is also of Ukrainian heritage and has worked on almost every exhibition since 2004, will oversee the installation of the sculptures by the Ukrainian artists, which is very special.’
SXS is donating the commissions on artworks by Ukrainian artists sold to the Ukraine Crisis Appeal. It is hoped a total of over $100,000 will be raised.
Read: Sales, scale and politics: a closer look at Sculpture by the Sea
Artists Egor Zigura, Nikita Zigura and Oleksii Zolotariov will be in Sydney for the launch of Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2022. Their travel has been supported by the Mostyn Family Foundation, Gwyneth and Tony Lennon Family Foundation, and Charles and Eva Curran, while the artists’ accommodation has been provided by The Blue Hotel Bondi.
The Howarth Foundation has additionally paid for the freight of the sculptures from Europe to Sydney.
The showcase of sculptures by Ukrainian artists will join over 100 sculptures from 16 countries. Sculpture by the Sea is the world’s largest annual free-to-the-public outdoor sculpture exhibition.
Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi
21 October until 7 November
Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk, free
