Mariia
Mytrofanova

Mariia Mytrofanova was born in 1999 in Odesa (Ukraine) and, since 2018, lives and works in Krakow, Poland. She graduated from the Department of Fine Arts at the Grekov Odesa Art School (2014–18) and from the Faculty of Art and Media at the Pedagogical University of Krakow (Uniwersytet Pedagogiczny im. Komisji Edukacji Narodowej w Krakowie, 2018–22). Collaborations include: KREaktywna in Krakow (Poland), Bunkier Sztuki in Krakow (Poland), Ufo art gallery in Krakow (Poland), and All Together Gallery in Venice (Italy).
Mariia’s practice focuses on the fragility of human existence in the face of political, economic, and climatic changes. She researches human connections within family histories and archives. Her artworks allude to our vulnerability and traumatic experiences of the present in relationship to history. In her work, Mariia’s focuses primarily on “her-story” and putting women’s voices first, making them be heard and recognized, in opposition to traditional art-historical approaches. With an environmentally conscious production strategy, she prefers using environmentally reusable materials that do not produce additional harm to our planet, placing art on a level that is secondary to nature.

Text: Lera Pliekhotko