Lesia Khomenko: Art and war

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Artist Lesia Khomenko left Kyiv with her daughter the day after the Russians invaded Ukraine – leaving her husband and all of her artwork behind. She now lives in New York, documenting how the conflict has transformed Ukrainian society through her painting. Her first work after the invasion was a portrait of her husband, wearing jeans and a puffa jacket whilst holding a gun and saluting awkwardly. Max is in the Army is part of a series of lawyers, engineers and musicians – all finding themselves abruptly turned into soldiers. Lucy Ash has been to Kyiv to witness the creation of Khomenko’s largest works to date including one which mirrors Kyiv railway station’s staircase, where it will be hung, crowded with figures, symbolising the nation defending its land, culture and democracy. This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from In the Studio, exploring the processes of the world’s most creative people.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:08.5	We're walking down a street with red brick houses and fire escapes.
0:14.6	It feels quintessential New York.
0:16.9	Yeah, we are walking toward Hudson River.
0:20.9	The studio is facing to the Hudson River.
0:25.2	And it's very windowed that winter.
0:28.1	And it really makes me feeling that I'm living in the ocean side.
0:37.3	This corridor remind me Kiev studios.
0:42.5	It reminds you of your studio and Kiev?
0:43.8	Yeah, because it's all the wooden stairs and building from 19 or early 20th century.
0:52.3	Welcome to the documentary in the studio from the BBC World Service.
0:57.4	I'm Lucy Ash.
0:58.9	It's April 2025, and I'm in the West Village of New York's Manhattan
1:03.9	with the Ukrainian artist Lesia Khomech.
1:08.0	Long before the full-scale Russian invasion, she was famous for her activism, her paintings, and for
1:15.4	mentoring young artists.
1:16.8	It's very popular here that artists share studios.
1:21.6	Share one room.
1:23.1	Could be five people in one room.
1:25.4	We're in an old telephone laboratory, a sanctuary for countless painters and sculptors since the 1970s.
1:33.7	Lesia's got a studio up on the third floor, where she's preparing work for a solo show in Kiev,
1:40.4	Ukraine's capital and her home city.
	...

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