Four Orbits Around the Sun

A group exhibition of Ukrainian artists creating in Ukraine during wartime

Bellevue, WA — Toloka Ukrainian Cultural Center presents “Four Orbits Around the Sun,” a group exhibition of Ukrainian artists creating in Ukraine, exploring resilience, connection, and everyday moments amid the ongoing war. The exhibition reflects on four years of full-scale invasion and the transformations it has brought to artists’ lives, while highlighting the enduring need to create and find meaning in daily experiences.

Over these years, artists’ lives have changed alongside the country itself. Yet the impulse to create remains constant — to discover joy in small things, irony in the absurd, and love within fleeting moments, even amid uncertainty and loss.

The exhibition features works shaped by life in Ukraine today: rhythms of air-raid alarms, power outages, grief, and challenges, but also closeness, unexpected encounters, and moments of light that sustain everyday life.

CURATOR’S QUOTE:

“These artists continue to live and work in Ukraine, and their practices grow from within the realities the country faces every day — with exhaustion, challenges, and loss, but also with resilience, connection, and the ability to find light in ordinary moments,”

— Yevheniia Hryhoryan, curator

This lived reality shapes the artistic process, giving depth and meaning to every gesture, image, and form. “Four Orbits Around the Sun” reflects on a passage of time that has tested and strengthened those who live through it. It is a story about community, endurance, and the capacity to keep seeking light even in the darkest periods.