Donrosa 2010

Curator: At first glance, Pavlo Makov's "Donrosa," created in 2010 using ink and drawing techniques, strikes me as a plan. A formal garden blueprint, perhaps? But distressed and layered with age. Editor: My immediate impression is one of intricate formality dissolving into something much more organic. The geometry strains to contain an undercurrent of chaos, doesn’t it? The symbolism is quite fascinating. Curator: That tension you identify speaks, I think, to a prevalent theme within post-Soviet Ukrainian art of the time. There was a clear need to break from, while still engaging with, prescribed societal norms that were, ironically, geometric and strict. How that plays out here visually I am interested to consider. Editor: Agreed. And I keep returning to the title itself, "Donrosa." One interpretation could focus on how maps both conceal and reveal; they provide guidance but abstract the lived experience. What are the maps of our own consciousness or collective history hiding from us? Curator: I wonder also to what degree the drawing may evoke older cartographic depictions of Ukraine's complicated past, when various powers and empires overlaid grids of control upon the landscape and communities. Each re-drawing leaves a kind of ghostly trace. Editor: That’s a powerful way to think about it. I also see echoes of mazes and labyrinths, the kinds designed not to guide, but to deliberately disorient and test the individual’s understanding of its world. There is a definite element of anxiety present. Curator: Yes, although the medium – drawing – seems to counter any immediate reading as overtly political, providing both distance and immediacy. Perhaps that paradox is one that speaks to its lasting effect. Editor: Ultimately, this work makes us confront the hidden forces shaping our spaces and ourselves, and asks what new patterns we might create in turn. Curator: An image indeed prompting introspection; I am pleased we have been able to present "Donrosa."