26-02-2025
North Dakota Museum of Art to host gallery talk, film screenings to complement Ukraine exhibition
Feb. 26—GRAND FORKS — In connection with its "Women at War" exhibition, the North Dakota Museum of Art is hosting a gallery talk Thursday, Feb. 27, and a film screening event Friday, Feb. 28.
The gallery talk, set for 4-5:30 p.m. Thursday will feature guest art historian and curator Monika Fabijanska at the museum, 261 Centennial Dr. on the UND campus. It will be followed by a question-and-answer discussion and a reception in the galleries. The talk will also be live-streamed at
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The museum will host the screening of three short art films by Ukrainian artists beginning at 6 p.m. Friday at the Empire Arts Center, 415 DeMers Ave. A brief question-and-answer session with the artists, live via Zoom from Ukraine, will be led by moderator Christophe Wall-Romana, a scholar of cinema studies at the University of Minnesota.
These free events are meant to further explore the impact of the Russian invasion of and war with Ukraine, which, as of Monday, Feb. 24, is entering its fourth year.
Fabijanska, a New York-based independent art historian, curated the "Women at War" exhibit on display through March 30 at the North Dakota Museum of Art. The exhibition and programming are underwritten by UND, said Brian Lofthus, NDMOA director of membership and marketing.
Fabijanska's exhibition, which was listed among the best art shows of 2022 by the Washington Post and the magazine Frieze, "provides context for the ongoing war, as represented in art across media," she said in the event announcement.
"Several works in the exhibition were made immediately following February 24, 2022, when Russia began the full-scale invasion of Ukraine; others date from the years of war following the annexation of Crimea and the creation of the separatist Donetsk and Luhansk 'People's Republics' in Donbas in 2014.
"War is central to history," Fabijanska said. "History has been written (and painted) by men. This exhibition provides a platform for women narrators of history and also examines gendered perspectives of war."
The exhibition has been displayed in Connecticut, Florida, Winnipeg, Chicago and Washington, D.C. The North Dakota Museum of Art is its final stop on the tour.
The films to be screened Friday at the Empire Arts Center were produced by Alevtina Kakhidze and Dana Kavelina, both of whom have works featured in the "Women at War" exhibition.
Kakhidze's film "All Good?" will be making its North American premiere.
Kakhidze, a native of Ukraine, acts as the UN Tolerance Ambassador in Ukraine and was awarded the Kazimir Malevich Artist Prize in 2008 by the Polish Institute in Ukraine.
"All Good?," which runs 19 minutes 57 seconds, was shot in Odessa, a port city on the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, in early 2024. Through the mirror of her family's history, the artist analyzes how an empire has ruined the lives of generations and how its influence eventually manifests itself, according to the NDMOA announcement.
Two films by Kavelina will be shown, "Marc Tulip, Who Spoke with Flowers" and "There are No Monuments to Monuments." The artist uses animation and video, as well as drawing, installation and painting.
Her works often address military violence and war, seen from gender perspective — especially regarding the position of a victim as a political subject — as well as the distance between historical and individual trauma, and memory and misrepresentation.
The North Dakota Museum of Art is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. There is no admission fee; donations are suggested. Parking is available in front of the museum using the Passport parking app with a smartphone, or stop in the museum for assistance. All parking is free after 4:30 p.m. and on the weekend.
For more information, call the museum at (701) 777-4195 or visit
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