Olga Niekrasova:
Fragments of Light and Shadow

The Helsinki Artists’ Association and Malmitalo Gallery present “Fragments of Light and Shadow”, a multidisciplinary exhibition by award-winning Ukrainian director, screenwriter, and visual artist Olga Niekrasova. Through an evocative fusion of experimental short films, monochrome digital photography, and recorded poetry, Olga Niekrasova invites audiences into an immersive exploration of memory, displacement, resilience, and human connection.

Experimental short films

Ball of Yarn=Trust (2024, 4 min 06 sec)

Inspired by Olga Niekrasova’s own poem Ball of Yarn=Trust, this experimental animation is a tender yet unsettling meditation on the fragility of trust. Blending hand-drawn imagery with tangible objects, the film transforms a simple ball of yarn into a metaphor for connection, and the delicate threads that bind us together—threads that can unravel as easily as they entwine. The work invites viewers into an intimate reflection on human relationships and the vulnerability inherent in trust.

Shadows (2023, 13 min 06 sec)

A visceral fictional narrative, Shadows tells the story of a mother and her 10-year-old daughter forcibly separated amid the ongoing deportation of Ukrainian children by Russian forces. Through the intertwined perspectives of the two characters, the film explores the emotional and psychological landscapes of loss and separation. Stark contrasts between the mother’s boundless emptiness and the daughter’s confining, claustrophobic world render both personal tragedy and collective trauma with striking poetic intensity. Though fictional, the film becomes an act of remembrance and resistance, offering perspective on resilience and familial bonds.

Valise (2023, 7 min 58 sec)

Seen through the eyes of a seven-year-old boy, Valise captures the fragile persistence of memory amidst the chaos of war. As missiles fall and home dissolves into uncertainty, the boy packs fleeting fragments of his childhood into a suitcase, creating a deep meditation on survival, identity, and hope.

Monochrome Photographic Collection

Complementing her acclaimed film practice, Olga Niekrasova presents a digital collection of black-and-white photographs that traverse the streets of Kyiv, Ukraine, as well as other European cities and towns. Stripped of titles or geographic identifiers, these images deliberately resist categorization. By erasing borders and boundaries, Olga prompts viewers to move beyond the politics of place and to confront urgent questions of inclusion, exclusion, and the shared threads of human experience.

The photographs are not offered in isolation. Each visual encounter is accompanied by recorded poems written and performed in English by the artist herself. This intimate layer of spoken word heightens both perception and emotional resonance, transforming the act of viewing into a multisensory dialogue between silence and voice, stillness and rhythm.

Through the interlacing of her photography, poetry, and film practice, Olga Niekrasova constructs a profoundly layered environment in which visual and auditory narratives unfold in parallel. The result is an immersive experience that unsettles linear storytelling and invites slow contemplation. Viewers are asked not only to look, but also to listen — to the fragility of belonging, to the echoes of displacement, and to the persistence of resilience across borders.

About the artist

Olga Niekrasova is an award-winning Ukrainian director, screenwriter, and visual artist whose work unfolds across film, photography, poetry, and mixed media. Her practice is rooted in experimentation, dissolving the boundaries between disciplines to create hybrid forms that exist somewhere between cinema, installation, and performance. By merging the visual and the auditory, the lyrical and the social, she opens new spaces for reflection on the intersections of trauma, resilience, and human connection.

Olga Niekrasova’s films and projects have been showcased internationally across Europe, the United States, and the United Kingdom, appearing not only in cinemas but also in art galleries, cultural forums, and political institutions. Her practice demonstrates remarkable versatility, engaging with artistic, civic, and public spaces while maintaining both aesthetic urgency and social impact. 

With a style that is experimental yet deeply human, lyrical yet unflinching, Olga Niekrasova transforms personal and collective memory into immersive experiences that blur the lines between the visible and the unseen. Her use of layered media and fragmented narratives creates a sensorial language that unsettles conventions of storytelling, leading audiences into a cinematic and emotional journey that lingers long after the encounter.