Varvara Uhlik (b. 1997, Dnipro, Ukraine) is a visual artist mainly working in the medium of photography and video. She studied Photography at the Royal Academy of Art, in The Hague. In her practice, she often creates absurd and comic environments, as she says: “It’s an easier way to process difficult feelings”. By integrating fiction into reality - she focuses on the human psyche, society and the relationships within it.

Varvara’s work was exhibited at the Southwark Park Galleries, London (2023), and The Grey Space in the Middle, The Hague (2022).

“This project is a research on an identity of a modern woman grown in the post-Soviet environment - a research on my identity. 

I always remembered having a happy childhood. Born just five years after the fall of the Soviet Union, in the east part of Ukraine, I have always been told how fortunate I am not to have lived under the Soviet rule. However, in my late twenties, I find myself feeling lost and confused about who I actually am. This has led me to undertake a search for myself by revisiting my memories and reevaluating them as an adult. 

As a child, I had happy moments, such as enjoying my mother's sour cherry varenyky or climbing trees. However, I also grew up in harsh conditions and was raised with a severe Soviet discipline that has shaped me into who I am today. Most of the people around me during my childhood were Soviet people, including my family, teachers, neighbours, a saleswoman in a corner shop, the president. Unfortunately, I am currently separated from my family due to the war that Russia has waged on Ukraine, and I am unable to return home. Therefore, I am using photography as a means to travel back to the east of Ukraine, back into the past, and recollect pieces of my identity by de- and re- constructing my childhood memories.”