Vladyslav Riaboshtan was born in 1996 in Ukraine, in Dnipro, and lives in Kyiv, working in visual art with oil, acrylic, enamel, silkscreen printing, aerosol, mixed media, paper, graphite, and photography.
“In my childhood, I was surrounded by factories, a railway, an unfinished subway, and many other industrial objects. Even after I grew up and moved to a different city, I wanted to find locations to which I got used, to their atmosphere. Before the invasion, my main project was a large series of Kyiv subways. At the moment this series is transformed into the theme of a subway as a shelter place, a safe zone from rockets and explosions. The war has changed the perception of many things for Ukrainians. I’d like to show how this experience changed what and why I depict.”
SUBWAY AS SHELTER
canvas, acrylic, mixed media, silk-screen printing
2022-2023
With the beginning of a full-scale invasion, the perception of the subway as a location changed radically. In the early days of the full-scale war, people began to use it as a shelter during air alarms. People took documents, food, and blankets and waited until it was safe to go home. It was very often when they spent nights mostly on the floor. This underground infrastructure is now ready to receive city residents at any moment, serving as a shelter from rocket and drone attacks. This war brought a completely new relevance to many things that previously seemed completely familiar every day. The future for us is still unclear.
Vladyslav also spent a lot of time on the floor of the subway station. Thousands of people were hiding there. Underground places are ideal for this, some stations are very deep. For example, Shulyavska station has a depth of 92, and Arsenalna station (105 m below ground level) is even the deepest metro station in the world. As one of the types of public transport, the subway has come to be perceived mostly as the safest repository. This object of the city’s underground infrastructure will remain very important and can accommodate many people.
