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Click the image to the left or follow the link below for a full listing of events at the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia this semester.

WCEE Winter Events

Exhibition. Invisible Women: Portraits of Aging in Ukraine

Monday, September 26, 2016
9:00 AM-5:00 PM
International Institute Gallery School of Social Work Building Map
Photography by Ashley Bigham, 2015-16 Walter B. Sanders Fellow, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, U-M; Watercolors by Grace Mahoney, doctoral student in Slavic languages and literatures, U-M.

In this exhibition, artists Bigham and Mahoney investigate the visibility and social role of Ukraine’s older generation of women—embodied in a figure both iconic and ubiquitous, the babusya. Seen in public transport, in the market, and on the street, each babusya has a story to tell. Each has something to say, something to gossip about, and something to complain about. The current generation of Ukrainian grandmothers survived World War II, the Holodomor, and multiple repressions. They are also active in the present—although civic activism is often thought to be the province of the young, many babusya joined in the actions of Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity in Kyiv and throughout the country. Now they witness the war in Eastern Ukraine. Many of them have lost their homes and some of them have lost their children or grandchildren. The generation called, “The Children of War” are now seniors of war.

In addition to their historic significance as a generation, these women are present in the spheres of daily life throughout the country. Possibly overlooked in society, these women are vibrant and active in the public spaces of contemporary Ukraine. Working in the open-air bazaars, resting on public park benches, or strolling through cemeteries, these women stake their claim on the urban space—blending, coalescing, disappearing. This exhibit endeavors to tell the stories of these grannies. It’s an invitation to look closer, to see the stories which are written on their faces – they are old and tired, but not invisible.

Ashley Bigham is a lecturer and the 2015-2016 Walter B. Sanders Fellow at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Prior to her appointment at Taubman College, Ashley was a Fulbright Fellow in Lviv, Ukraine, researching and teaching at the Center of Urban History of East Central Europe. Bigham holds a Master of Architecture from Yale University and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Tennessee.

Grace Mahoney is a Ph.D. student in Slavic Languages and Literatures. In 2014-15 she lived in Ukraine on a U.S. Student Fulbright fellowship and interned with the Revolution of Dignity Museum in Kyiv in summer 2016. She has Bachelor's degrees in Visual Art and English Literature from Seattle University. Her work from this show was originally shown in the exhibition Portraits of the Unlost at America House in Kyiv in summer 2015.

An artists’ talk will be held from 4-5:30 pm on Friday, September 23 in 1636 SSWB.

Exhibition sponsors: Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies; A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning; Women's Studies Department; Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures
Building: School of Social Work Building
Event Type: Exhibition
Tags: Art, European, International, Visual Arts
Source: Happening @ Michigan from Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning, International Institute, Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia, Slavic Languages & Literatures
Upcoming Dates:

Videos of programs organized by WCEE affiliates are posted on the CES, CCPS, and CREES websites.

Videos of select events are also available on the University of Michigan's YouTube Channel.