THE LAND WE CARRY

The background

This year’s Magic Carpets project at Jam Factory Art Center focuses on two aspects of socio-cultural practices — gardening and cooking — working at their intersection with artistic practices.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to lands being lost, abandoned, or mined across occupied, de-occupied, and frontline territories. Since 2014, thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes, finding ways to cope with loss — among them, “recreating” home in new places: through gardening, which literally reconstructs familiar surroundings, or through cooking and sharing food as performative acts that evoke memories through smells and tastes.
Family recipes, seasonal celebrations, local dishes — all of these open up the cultural heritage and memory of Ukraine’s regions and national communities.
The invited artists will work with participants’ stories using various artistic media — in an environment of trust and safety.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The community art program “The Land We Carry” explores cultural practices of gardening and cooking as sources of support and resilience for communities during times of daily loss and tragedy. Within the project, we will engage with media such as drawing, ceramics, performative practices, and storytelling.

WHAT IS A “COMMUNITY ART PROGRAM”?

It is a creative interaction through artistic or mixed practices between artists and participants, whether or not they have met before. Through this process, all participants become co-authors in a shared experience of being together through play, sound, movement, and/or the creation of a collective artwork. At the same time, there is space for individual expression.

RESIDENTS

Diana Khalilova — an artist born in Dagestan who spent most of her youth in Dnipro. She graduated from the Kyiv National University of Food Technologies and worked as a cook in various restaurants across Kyiv, Dnipro, and Odesa. Since 2020, she has been developing her artistic practice, working mainly with clay, video, food, and other media. Part of her work addresses themes of ethnic identity — particularly the Rutul culture and language, to which her family belongs. From 2022, she led the “Community Kitchen” program at the Center for Contemporary Culture in Dnipro — a project that combines collective cooking sessions with conversations about food as an essential part of culture and memory. Between 2022 and 2025, she participated in group exhibitions in Ukraine and Romania.

Iryna Loskot — a multidisciplinary artist from Kharkiv. She graduated from Kharkiv National University of Arts (specializing in puppet theater acting) and now lives in Kyiv. She works with objects, video, and performance. In her practice, she explores the interactions between humans and non-humans, as well as their political connections. Her approach involves uncovering the agency of non-humans, environmental adaptation, the militarization of “nature,” and the naturalization of war. Through images that blur the boundaries between human and non-human experiences, she critically examines anthropocentrism.

Lilia Petrova — an artist from Kharkiv. She graduated from the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts with a degree in Book Graphics. She works with graphic art and ceramics. Through drawing, she explores the interaction between verbal and visual languages, creating her own graphic universe populated by naive creatures navigating difficult and absurd life situations. In her ceramics, she draws on folk art practices as examples of sincere and intuitive creativity. She is also involved in alternative art education and teaches “Drawing and Sculpture” at the Kharkiv School of Architecture. Lilia views art as a supportive tool accessible to everyone — one that can help navigate life, carve out a space for reflection, experience, and communication.

Project Curator – Olena Kasperovych
Project Manager – Iryna Klyuchnyk

MagiC Carpets

The Jam Factory Art Center implements the program as part of the Magic Carpets platform.

“MagiC Carpets” is an international art platform created in 2017 that gives evolving artists and curators an opportunity to start their own “magical trip” by collecting local stories all around Europe and telling them in other countries through their art. The project is co-financed by the EU Program “Creative Europe”.

Jam Factory Art Center became a member of “MagiC Carpets” in January 2020.

For further information, visit this page.