Untitled 2006

This is an untitled pen drawing by Ukrainian artist Alexander Roitburd. In this striking image, a nude human figure is inverted, head down, with a bird perched on their posterior. The figure's hands almost touch a dark, nest-like shape hovering above a grassy horizon. Roitburd was a key figure in the Ukrainian New Wave movement, a generation of artists reacting to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Much of their work was politically engaged, often mixing folkloric imagery with art brut aesthetics. In Roitburd’s images, we see a confrontation with traditional values and a negotiation of cultural identity in a rapidly changing society. The figure's vulnerability, the precarious balance with the bird, and the ambiguous nest all speak to a search for stability. A deeper understanding of this artwork would need an investigation of the artist's influences and an appreciation of Ukraine’s struggle for cultural autonomy. The politics of imagery here asks us to consider whose stories get told and how.