The exhibition “Prayer for Light” is an allusion to Hutsul icons on glass and traditional types of decorative art in an alternative lynx reality. Something very recognizable, everyday and at the same time unexpected and sacred.
The works ironically address the theme of traditional spirituality, escape from the problems of the material world and modern realities, where the schedules of turning off the lights form new biological and life rhythms of Ukrainians.
“In my metaverse, any animal can be deified, and the value of nature is equated with religious archetypes. Where the lynx lives like a person, nature becomes the center of worship.”
The lynx is the largest wild cat in Europe, listed in the Red Book of Ukraine, suffering from the reduction of its habitat area in the Carpathians (logging, tourism) and trophy hunting.
Marta Leshak is an artist and illustrator originally from Kolomyia, currently lives and works in Lviv. She studied graphic design at the National University of Lviv Polytechnic. She has been working in the field of illustration and graphic design for nine years. In her artistic practice, she combines naive painting with elements of traditional Ukrainian iconography, creating unique works that explore the themes of spirituality, ecology, and the relationship between man and nature. She pays special attention to the topic of preserving the Carpathian fauna, in particular the lynx – the largest wild cat in Europe.