Zhanna Kadyrova points to 'Strategic Locations' rooted in resistance at Continua

Galleria Continua presents Strategic Locations, a solo exhibition by Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova at its Paris Marais space, on view from March 28 – May 5, 2025. Widely regarded as a vital voice in contemporary Ukrainian art, Kadyrova is internationally known for her striking use of found materials to convey the harsh realities of life in wartime. "My works are not a representation of violence," she explains, "but a tangible trace of violence itself, a direct testimony to the brutality of the conflict, extracted from its context and placed within the territory of art."

Since 2022, Kadyrova, who is also a member of the Revolutionary Experimental Space (R.E.P.), has chosen to remain in Ukraine, significantly pausing most international activity to focus on creating works on-site. Strategic Locations is shaped by this commitment, resonating with the "collective experience of Ukrainians, intersecting testimonies of a war that continues to impact Europe, while paying tribute to the strength of human resistance and the persistence of life," as the show's press release states.

The art exhibition at Galleria Continua features works produced in and around active conflict zones, that is, works created in 'strategic locations'—occupied territories, shifting frontlines and militarised landscapes—mapping a military geography that began with Crimea’s 2014 annexation. Through this, Ukraine’s natural and historic terrains are revealed as sites of disruption, exploitation and loss.

The show's journey begins with HOME (2014), a monumental brick sculpture of a fractured Ukrainian map. The work marks the collapse of safety and belonging, echoing the early days of invasion and the foreshadowing of later events in Donbas and beyond. As the gallery puts it, "The work symbolises the collapse of the notions of 'home' and safety, questioning whether walls can protect us in times of devastating violence."

Next is Behind the Fence (2014), developed during the artist's visit to the Biruchyy Peninsula, once Ukrainian territory on the Sea of Azov, which remained Ukrainian territory until 2022. Using salvaged fencing materials, the series explores themes of division, restriction and violence—motifs that reemerge in Souvenir (2023), where summer seashells (objects often collected by children as mementoes of summer holidays) become peephole-like sculptural forms referencing now-inaccessible regions.

Strategic Locations introduces a new body of work by the contemporary artist, examining nature as a battlefield—where forests, rivers and cities are co-opted into military geographies and landscapes of destruction. The ongoing Forest project (2024), developed following an invitation from IHME Helsinki Art Commission, centres on the Kakhovka Dam, "one of the most emblematic sites where war, ecocide and devastation of culture converge," as stated in the press release. Built in 1956 and concealing vast submerged cultural heritage, the dam’s destruction by Russian forces in 2023 triggered catastrophic flooding. Kadyrova's video installation captures the slow return of nature—a young forest reclaiming a scarred site.

Kadyrova's contemporary art practice is rooted in resistance. "Through each of her creations, Kadyrova expresses her personal experience as an observer of the war and her commitment to defending the life, culture and memory of Ukraine. For her, art is never an ephemeral act, but a form of resistance that gives a voice to both suffering and hope, resonating in every artistic gesture. Art, which the artist defines as an 'act of humanity', thus opposes war - the ultimate expression of a paradoxical absence of humanity among human beings," Continua shares.

This ethos underpins the documentary IDP (Internally Displaced Person), which follows the 2024 evacuation of Kadyrova’s Origami sculpture (2019) from Jubilee Park in Pokrovsk as the area neared frontline status. The film records the sculpture’s dismantling and reimagines its escape—a symbolic gesture of cultural survival in times of war.

In Resources (2024), exhibited for the first time, Kadyrova transforms severed logs from Transcarpathia, the western part of Ukraine, into totems of loss. Stripped of bark and wrapped in military camouflage, these tree limbs evoke wounded bodies, fusing ecological harm with the human cost of conflict. "The logs thus transform into wounded human bodies and limbs, symbolising the effects of war on the civilian population and the lives destroyed by the aggressor," the press release mentions.

The final series, Shots (2010 – 2014), offers stark, visceral testimony. Cracked tiles and punctured forms, marked by real Kalashnikov bullets, underscore the lasting imprint of violence on environments, psyches and bodies alike.

Ultimately, Strategic Locations "goes beyond the Ukrainian territory alone, as defeating colonial conquest such as Russian imperialism is strategic for the entire world," says Continua. "The artist insists that freedom and the right to self-determination are universal, just like nature itself. Through a compelling and engaged artistic path, Kadyrova creates a space for reflection on the essential role of art in times of conflict, presenting it as a powerful vehicle for the voices of those who resist," they continue.