The application for the Sofiya Nalepinska-Boychuk Fellowship for Polish artists is open
Sofiya Nalepinska-Boychuk Fellowship is an annual programme of the Ukrainian Institute, the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute (IAM) offering Polish artists a two-month art residency and research stay in Kyiv, Ukraine (August-September 2022).
The residency facilitates the creation of critical understanding of everyday life and changes taking place in contemporary Polish and Ukrainian society, culture, art, and science. The residency is a tool for learning, networking and developing relationships between Polish and Ukrainian artists, researchers, and curators.
Curators from Open Place will provide a full-time support for the Polish artist during their residence, introduce them to the social, political, and artistic context of Ukraine, and help with research and organizing trips, meetings, and discussions.
Deadline for application: 1 November 2021.
Who can apply: Polish residents, adults, working in the field of broadly understood visual arts (including performance).
How to apply: email the following to [email protected], no later than 1 November 2021, 11:59 PM, Warsaw time:
● Cover letter (200-1000 words)
● CV
● Portfolio (recent work, curatorial experience, conference participation, publicaions etc.).
The documents should be in English, in a single .pdf file (10 MB max), named: SNB2021_Name_Surname.pdf.
The final decision will be published on the Ukrainian Institute, IAM, and the Ujazdowski Castle CCA’s websites and Facebook pages on 15 November 2021.
The fellowship includes:
● a stipend of 1,500 EUR
● cost of transport from the artist’s place of residence (Poland) to Kyiv and back
● private living space and access to a studio
● research trips expenses
Sofiya Nalepinska-Boychuk (Zofia Nalepińska-Bojczuk, 1884–1937)
Born on July 30, 1884 in Łódź, Poland to a Polish father and a mother of French origin; her brother, Tadeusz Nalepiński, was a well-known Polish poet. In 1890, the family moved to St. Petersburg, where Sofiya gained initial art education at the impressionist Jan Tsionglinsky’s (Jan Ciągliński) studio. She continued studying in Munich and Paris at the Académie Ranson, where she worked with Félix Vallotton and Maurice Denis. There, she met and later married Mykhailo Boychuk – the Ukrainian artist and leader of the Paris-based Ukrainian group, Renovation Byzantine.
Illustration to S. Vasylchenko’s novel “Olive Ring”, xylography, 1930
Illustration to the poem by T. Shevchenko “I Was Thirteen”, xylography, 1928
Illustration to T. Shevchenko’s poem “Kateryna”, xylography, 1927
In 1911, the couple moved to Ukraine, and in 1918 had a son. Boychuk was one of the co-founders of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts in Kyiv; Sofiya learnt Ukrainian and assimilated quickly. From 1919 to 1922, she worked at an art school in Mirgorod, and later became head of the xylography workshop at the Kyiv Institute of Plastic Arts (after 1924, the Kyiv Art Institute, now the National Academy of Visual Arts and Architecture).
The couple’s activities did not correspond with the principles of proletarian art and they soon became enemies of the state. The couple was arrested on charges of espionage and counterrevolutionary activities and executed by firing squad in 1937.