Olena Zahrebina is a Prague-based Ukrainian artist and illustrator originally from Chernihiv who combines illustration, printmaking, art brut, and found objects to explore themes of imaginary entities, chance, and the insect world. For the festival, she presents “Pocket Atlas of Beetles,” an ongoing series of hybrid illustrations situated at the boundary of science and mythology, directly inspired by Vladimír Javorek’s 1964 scientific pocket guide. By altering anatomical structures and introducing human traits to classic biological drawings, her work crafts a visual taxonomy of hybrid insect-humans that explores social mimicry, psychological mutation, and vulnerability within an unstable world. The installation expands beyond the gallery walls into an immersive, sensory environment, featuring a spatial textile sculpture and dedicated listening stations with a custom ambient soundtrack composed by sound designer Mykyta Sakharov. Ultimately, her project uses graphic reinterpretation to envision a surreal, alternative ecological system that mirrors contemporary anxieties and new forms of coexistence.
Exhibits within: Showcase – Illustration
Olena Zahrebina
