A journey through the side path of the reality of war, through the fate of many beings on whom war has left its devastating mark.
At the center of this work stands the human being – a species that has elevated itself, creating flawed, fractured, and unjust worlds. The mutilated human can simultaneously represent both victim and perpetrator. The latest technology, which destroys the body, also rebuilds it – through prosthetics.
Step by step, we move into the unknown; no step brings us closer to anything, and there is no hope of reversing what has already happened. War affects everyone: people and animals – both domestic and wild – plants and entire ecosystems. That’s why the work ВОНИ (THEY) could not omit the representatives of wartime animal migration.
In Ukraine, urban or private animal shelters, adapted initially for local species, have turned into spaces filled with a menagerie of refugees and escapees from areas affected by or threatened with conflict. These migrants represent all continents and countries and come from every class and caste of the animal kingdom: wild, feral, traumatized by shelling and fire, injured, slaves of private zoos and circuses, semi-wild animals recently living on the streets, beloved pets shocked by the loss of their safe world – abandoned or lost.
In Lviv, pelicans, storks, chickens, ducks, nutrias and muskrats, ravens, owls, several species of monkeys, an eagle, a sheep, and a goat born locally to a mother who escaped from the east now spend their time side by side – dogs from Kharkiv, Donbas, and Kherson, cats from Kharkiv. Across Ukraine, shelters have become, during the war, often the only refuge – camps of last hope. In addition to shelters, sanctuaries for wild animals like bears and wolves have been established and continue to be created. Predatory cats such as lions, pumas, and ocelots are being relocated across Europe. I documented these animal refugees at the “Domivka” Shelter for Rescued Animals in Lviv and the Bear Sanctuary in Domazhyr.
Jacek Zachodny was born in Wrocław, Poland in 1969. A local Academy of Fine Arts graduate, he also studied Archaeology at the University of Wrocław. He works with installation, objects, painting, video, performance, actions in public spaces, and socio-artistic projects.
In his practice, he often addresses the issues of memory, past, and transience, but above all, he is interested in interpersonal relationships. He regularly contributes to Rita Baum, an art magazine and author of the book Elektryka Duszy [Electrics of the Soul].
He co-runs the ArtBrut Gallery in Wrocław, working with artists with intellectual and motor disabilities.
His works are in public collections, including the Zachęta Lower Silesian Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow. He has participated in exhibitions in Poland and abroad, in venues such as BWA Wrocław, Galeria Entropia, Bunkier Sztuki, MOCAK, and Galeria Potocka (Cracow). He has also shown his works at the WRO International Media Art Biennale.
