Lesia Vasylchenko Donates 2025 Pinchuk Art Centre Prize to Ukrainian Army
The international jury praised the 34‑year‑old Kyiv‑born artist’s installation as a poetic study of the Ukrainian sky, blending trauma and hope as Russia’s war in the country bleeds past its third year, with a collective total of over one million casualties. Save to My Ocula
Lesia Vasylchenko is the main prize winner of the 8th PinchukArtCentre Prize, Ukraine’s premier contemporary art award for artists aged 35 or younger.
But rather than the 400,000 UAH (around 10,000 USD) worth of prize money going into her pocket or practice, she’s using it to support Ukraine’s armed forces.
The 34-year-old, Kyiv-born artist received the award along with automatic shortlisting for the global Future Generation Art Prize and said she would donate the entire prize sum to charitable contributions in support of the army, who are caught up in a multi-year conflict with Russia which The Wall Street Journal has reported the death and injury toll for both countries in excess of a million.
Two additional awards were granted: Kateryna Aliinyk won the first Special Prize, while Yevhen Korshunov received the second Special Prize and the Public Choice Award.
Each received 100,000 UAH (around 2,400 USD) and funding for professional development. A special tribute was paid to Veronika Kozhushko, a Kharkiv-based applicant who died in a Russian missile strike in August 2024.
The international jury praised Vasylchenko’s work as a poetic study of the Ukrainian sky, blending trauma and hope through a conceptually rigorous installation.
Aliinyk’s paintings were lauded for their ‘tenderness under duress’, while Korshunov’s drawings offered an intimate portrayal of soldiers’ humanity amid war.
Victor Pinchuk, the prize’s founder, emphasised art’s role in Ukraine’s resistance: ‘Ukrainian art today is a weapon,’ he said, adding he has seen art move world leaders to tears.
‘We need their emotions because those emotions influence their decisions.’
The exhibition runs at Kyiv’s PinchukArtCentre until 13 July 2025.
Established in 2009, the PinchukArtCentre Prize supports emerging Ukrainian artists, fostering global recognition for the country’s contemporary art scene. —[O]
Main image: Lesia Vasylchenko, Night Without Shadows and Light Without Rippling of Waves (2022–2025). © Ela Bialkowska, OKNO studio for Pinchuk Art Centre/Pinchuk Art Centre Prize 2025. Courtesy Lesia Vasylchenko.
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