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About the project
Under the framework of Discovery Guide, a project curated by Sineglossa that supports and promotes Ukrainian culture through the creation of an unconventional tourist guide made by local communities and artists, realized in collaboration with Fundacja Ziemniaki i and Territory NGO, and co-financed by Creative Europe, six artists—three international and three Ukrainian—have been selected. They will contribute to creating content for the guide.
These artists, chosen through the “A Discovery Guide for Ukraine” open call which received 240 applications, will participate in a training activity on the “Nonturismo” methodology in July. They will be hosted in Warsaw by Fundacja Ziemniaki i. Between September and October, they will complete a residency at the Bakota Hub cultural center in southwestern Ukraine.
During these periods, they will visit the Bakota region and meet residents and representatives of local organizations to create itineraries, consisting of texts and images, for a travel guide dedicated to the region. The guide is inspired by the Sarajevo Survival Guide, produced by an artists’ collective in 1992 during the city’s siege, and by the “Nonturismo” methodology, which focuses on community involvement through art in rural and fragile areas.
Discover the Artists and Their Proposals
Anna Romandash
About Anna: Anna Romandash is an award-winning Ukrainian writer and journalist. She’s the author of “Women of Ukraine: Reportages from the War and Beyond” (2023) and has been recognized as a Media Freedom Ambassador of Ukraine for her work in human rights and media. Her accolades include winning the European Institute of the Mediterranean’s literary competition and receiving recognition from Internews, the Council of Europe, and the Samovydets Literary Reportage Contest.
Her Proposal: Anna will create a creative reportage that tells the story of Bakota through the eyes of those who are no longer with us. She plans to interview current residents and delve into archives and documents to bring past characters to life. These characters, symbolizing historical memory, will forge connections between Ukraine’s past and present.
Olena Kayinska
About Olena: Olena Kayinska is a Ukrainian painter based in Lviv whose work explores themes of trauma and post-traumatic recovery, psychosomatic healing, and inner depth. She has participated in over 100 exhibitions, contemporary art festivals, and residencies. Her paintings are held in museum collections and private collections across Ukraine, Poland, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Hungary, the United States, and Turkey.
Her Proposal: Olena will produce a series of paintings based on the legends of Bakota, alongside a map highlighting places that have become pilgrimage sites for healing or “spiritual portals” due to these stories. These are spots where people go “to lie down for energy harmonization.” While these tales might sound amusing, they beautifully capture the unique cultural and spiritual atmosphere of the Horayivka community.
Camille Bleu-Valentin
About Camille: Camille Bleu-Valentin (b. 1995, Paris) works at the intersection of heritage, conflict, and collective memory. As a descendant of both colonized and colonizers, she develops inclusive, site-specific art projects in fragile or remote regions. After studying post-war artistic practices in Sarajevo, she founded VISA, an association dedicated to promoting international cultural exchange. Her work engages diverse communities (youth, migrants, seniors, incarcerated individuals), aiming to transform pressing realities into poetic and collective acts.
Her Proposal: Camille’s project, “Materia Commestibile” (Edible Matter), is a thematic and sensory journey that champions food not just as a means of survival, but also as a form of memory and poetic resistance. It asks: “What do we eat when everything is uncertain? And how can shared knowledge and creativity help sustain a community?” The project invites locals to create food portraits using natural inks from local crops (like beetroot, spinach, and carrots) and scented with local spices, all printed in her mobile silkscreen studio. She’ll also create bioplastics from potatoes, nettles, or beetroot, map local foraging spots, and share recipes that utilize edible wild plants and forgotten knowledge.
ARSÈNE
About ARSÈNE: ARSÈNE (b. 1998, Gruyères) is a multidisciplinary artist, researcher, and humanitarian activist who has been deeply involved with the Russian invasion of Ukraine since its outset. He focuses on grassroots activism, Western (neo)colonialism, and queer communities and practices, exploring the often-overlooked aspects of feelings, relationships, and solidarity during wartime. His practice blends art, documentation, and direct action, redefining the role of the Western individual from observer to actively engaged accomplice.
His Project: ARSÈNE will create an itinerary focused on the intimate geographies of the residents of the Bakota and Khmelnitskyi regions. How do people experience, shape, and remember the places they inhabit? Through explorations and archives, he will gather their personal stories and map the locations tied to memories of friendships, dreams, and their (pre-war) experiences. This itinerary aims to provide a much-needed space for local and intimate rural expression, which is often neglected during wartime.
Robin Alysha Clemens
About Robin: Robin Alysha Clemens (b. 1992, Netherlands) is a photographer and lens-based artist who explores themes of home, community and the sense of belonging. Fascinated by how our surroundings influence our sense of self, the artist delves into daily life, traditions, rituals, and symbolism. They are interested in stories from the fringes, the displaced and the overlooked. Robin’s work has been exhibited at locations like Lviv City Hall (UA), the Amsterdam Museum (NL), Dutch Design Week (NL), and the NARS Foundation (USA). Robin’s works have received numerous accolades, including the ‘New Generation Prize’ from PhMuseum and various other grants.
Their Proposal: Robin will investigate how the concept of home is redefined by those whose physical, cultural, or emotional homes no longer offer security or stability. When the traditional idea of home collapses, what takes its place? By seeking out and photographing objects, memories, rituals, and emotional spaces people use to maintain or create a sense of belonging, they will produce “intangible postcards” from Bakota, effectively mapping an emotional architecture of belonging.
Bohdana Korohod
About Bohdana: Bohdana Korohod (b. 1997) lives and works in Paris. She holds an MA in Sound and Visual Technologies from the University of Tartu (Estonia) and a degree in Political Science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Ukraine) and Leiden University (Netherlands). Her work has been showcased at festivals and exhibitions across Ukraine, Poland, Estonia, Belgium, Sweden, France, and Finland. She is a winner of the “In Between? – Image and Memory” competition organized by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (2020).
Her Proposal: Starting at the Bakota Cave Monastery of St. Michael, Bohdana will explore the relationship between geological time and cultural memory. Rocks, especially cliffs, are powerful memory keepers; their layers, formed millions of years ago, hold centuries of human rituals, beliefs, and transformations. Through a writing and movement workshop, she will engage the local community in exercises to imagine the cliff’s memory, treating it as a living archive: “What might it have seen, heard, smelled, or felt over time?”
