'We are both freedom fighters': Africa exhibition at war-damaged Kyiv gallery strikes a chord

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/30/kyiv-khanenko-museum-africa-exhibition-opens

‘We are both freedom fighters’: Africa exhibition at war-damaged Kyiv gallery strikes a chord

A unique show at Khanenko Museum, opening three years after a Russian missile hit, is inspiring Ukrainians to think about art and empire in new ways

Bénédicte Savoy
Thu 30 Oct 2025 08.40 EDT

On a quiet street in central Kyiv, where monuments are wrapped in sandbags and shrapnel shields, the Khanenko Museum has opened an exhibition about Africa. Its title, Africa Direct, is a statement and a method: a call to approach the continent not through inherited filters (Soviet, colonial, or western) but through direct engagement with its histories, philosophies and living cultures.

The museum, which holds one of the most distinguished private collections of the 19th century in eastern Europe, was badly damaged when a Russian missile struck nearby in October 2022. Windows and show cases were shattered and the glass ceiling collapsed. Yet the museum’s collections were unharmed: Byzantine icons, Islamic artwork, and old master paintings had already been secured, some of them safely evacuated to partner institutions in Paris, Vilnius, Warsaw and The Hague.

The museum did not close. Its staff kept the institution open, empty but active, organising lectures, readings, and mental health workshops with the neighbouring hospital. Some of the glass fragments were later turned into brooches by a local goldsmith, offered as a sign of endurance to guests and friends.

Now, on the third anniversary of the attack, Africa Direct has opened in the same building, this time filled with objects and voices from another continent. Curated by Yulia Fil and Daria Sukhostavets, and initiated by the deputy director Hanna Rudyk, the exhibition brings together 40 works from 18 African countries, collected over two decades by the Ukrainian couple Tetyana Deshko and Andriy Klepikov, who have worked extensively in African public health. Historical artefacts sit alongside works by contemporary artists such as the Ghanaian-British artist Adelaide Damoah, Christian Nyampeta (Rwanda/the Netherlands/US), Seyni Awa Camara (Senegal) and Esther Mahlangu (South Africa).

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