THE 20th ANNIVERSARY OF THE CHORNOBYL NUCLEAR DISASTER
Exhibit of works by Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak evokes Chornobyl
HOUSTON - April 26, 2006, marks the 20th anniversary of the nuclear plant explosion in Chornobyl, Ukraine. Ten years ago, Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak visited the Chornobyl zone, northwest of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. That fall of 1996, the artist and a Ukrainian radio-oncologist embarked on an officially sanctioned one-day visit of the radiation-saturated fenced 40-mile-wide circle called the zone, including the abandoned town of Prypiat.
What she saw and experienced, along with much material gathered and documented since 1986, is at the heart of the selection of artwork in her University of Houston-Clear Lake solo exhibition titled "Chornobyl."
The exhibition features mixed media paintings that combine seemingly contradictory and disparate materials and processes - such as lead and gold, organic and inert materials, hand embroidery and torching. The 13 works on canvas, wood, and paper, selected from several series begun after 1986 and continuing through 2005, evoke the Chornobyl cataclysm in its many manifestations.
Accompanying the exhibit is the artist's essay, recounting her impressions of the zone and reflecting on ways it influenced her ensuing artwork. The contemplative nature of the exhibition is enhanced within the gallery with soft lighting and the sounds of "Requiem for the Victims of Chornobyl," a moving choral work composed by Ukrainian Canadian Roman Hurko.
Just outside the gallery's glass wall, a display case holds magazines, books, excerpted writings and images of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster. Here the artist has also included her photogravure print "Reflected Innocence" and information about her project to raise funds for the Children of Chornobyl Relief and Development Fund.
In commemoration of the anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, Ms. Bodnar-Balahutrak and the Texas Print Collaborative in Houston initiated a fund-raising special project that will continue through the duration of the exhibition. An edition and a limited number of proofs of "Reflected Innocence" are available for purchase through the Collaborative or the artist through May 31, with proceeds benefiting the Children of Chornobyl Relief and Development Fund (www.childrenofchornobyl.org).
Those interested in supporting this special project are invited to click onto the designated site (http://www.texasprint.net/SpecialProjects.html) for more information, to view the print image and place an order. Funds raised are earmarked for the purchase of medical equipment - such as a pulse oxymeter - for the neonatal intensive care unit of the Chernihiv City Maternity Center hospital in Ukraine.
Ms. Bodnar-Balahutrak's solo exhibition "Chornobyl" is on view from April 1 through May 31 in the Art Gallery of the University of Houston-Clear Lake, the Bayou Building, Atrium I, First Level, located at 2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston, Texas 77058. Gallery hours are 8 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m.-noon on Friday, or by prior arrangement. Visitor parking is provided in front of the Bayou Building. For further information, please call UH/CL at 281-283-3446.
On Tuesday, April 25, beginning at 6 p.m., Ms. Bodnar-Balahutrak will give a gallery talk in the Art Gallery, Bayou Building, Atrium I, Level 1. This presentation about her show "Chornobyl" is free and open to the public. More information about the artist's work can be gleaned from her website, www.LydiaBodnarBalahutrak.com.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 23, 2006, No. 17, Vol. LXXIV
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