Zhenya Oliinyk is a Ukrainian illustrator and visual artist, born and based in Kyiv. She holds degrees in journalism and cultural studies, and worked as a reporter and culture columnist. In 2018, Zhenya transitioned to working as an artist and illustrator, but she continues to explore themes of war, trauma, culture, media, and human rights. Since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion, she has documented her experience of living through the war through illustrations and graphic stories. Zhenya’s work has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Zeit, The Economist, Wired, and other media. In May–June 2024, her solo exhibition The Pelican was held at the Mala Gallery of Mystetskyi Arsenal in Kyiv, dedicated to the theme of sacrifice made by those defending Ukraine from the Russian invasion – those who hold the front line with their own bodies.

“As both an artist and a researcher, I am driven by questions around cultural wars, colonialism, human rights, environmental crisis, history, and the visual language of trauma. My lived experience of the war in Ukraine, including living in very close proximity to the frontline, fleeing my city and coming back to it, experiencing multiple missile attacks and power outages, being a partner of a serviceman and then a veteran, shaped my sensitivity to these topics and an urgent need to document and resist through art.

Since the full-scale invasion in February 2022, I have used my work to counter propaganda and amplify awareness of Russia's war crimes in Ukraine. I’ve been documenting daily life in wartime Kyiv through drawings and graphic essays, focusing on the destructive impact of the Russian invasion and the continued legacy of Russian colonialism. I’m currently working on a project about Ukrainian landscapes as witnesses to trauma that explores how environmental degradation becomes inseparable from historical and cultural memory. In the last few years, I’ve also been expanding into new mediums to see how illustration can function within contemporary art contexts and exhibition spaces.”