2026 McKinney Artists-in-Residence Marhartyta Zhurunova and Bohdan Lokatyr will present an overview of their collaborative practice, tracing its development from early land art projects to recent site-specific and environmental works shaped by the realities of war in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian artist duo’s practice is grounded in direct engagement with landscape and examines the mutual influence between people and land, focusing on environmental damage, toxic traces of human activity, and, since 2022, the direct impact of war on territory, memory, and lived experience. Their work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions in Ukraine and across Europe.
In this lecture, they will discuss how working directly with landscape has informed their artistic decisions, research methods, and career paths, including the role of residencies, international exhibitions, and long-term collaboration. Through selected projects, the artists will reflect on art as a form of research and response, one that engages ecological change, political rupture, and lived experience, and open a conversation with students and colleagues about sustaining an artistic practice across different contexts and geographies.
Zhurunova and Lokatyr have been working together since 2015 across land art, environmental art, and site-specific installation. They began collaborating while studying at the Ukrainian Academy of Printing, where both received master’s degrees in fine arts, restoration. Lokatyr also studied artistic ceramics at the Lviv State College of Decorative and Applied Arts and is currently pursuing a PhD. Zhurunova continued her education through international programs, including the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts and the Climate Adaptation for Creatives program run by Black Mountain College and the British Council.
Their work has been presented in solo exhibitions in Ukraine and internationally, including at institutions such as Edinborgarhúsið in Ísafjörður, Iceland; the International Center for the Arts in Monte Castello di Vibio, Italy; and Galerías VA in Valladolid, Spain. They have also participated in major group exhibitions, biennials, and contemporary art programs in Ukraine and across Europe, with projects in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Lithuania, Poland, and the Canary Islands. Their practice has been further developed through numerous artist residencies and research programs across Europe, supported by initiatives such as Creative Europe, Artists at Risk, and Culture Moves Europe. In 2019 and 2022, both artists were awarded the President of Ukraine Scholarship for Young Artists, and in 2019 they also received a national grant supporting their practice.
Learn more at https://zhurlok.com or @land_art_zhurunova.lokatyr on Instagram.
