Time of Phoenix curated by Ira Lupu

'Time of Phoenix' reveals an intimate set of photographs that document Ukrainian-born artist and photographer, Ira Lupu's, return to her home country, Ukraine, for the first time since the war began.

Exhibited for the first time in Wembley Park, the exhibition is part of 'Visions of Home,' a wider series, curated by Lupu, that includes photography exhibitions, site-specific installations, and digital artworks – conveying powerful messages to raise awareness of how, from the perspective of Ukrainian artists, a sense of home has been forever altered.

Artist Bio

(taken from Lupu’s online biography)

Ira Lupu is a photographer, multimedia artist, and writer born in Odesa, Ukraine, and currently based in New York City. She is a graduate of the New Media Narratives program at the International Center of Photography (NYC), and Viktor Marushchenko’s School of Photography (Kyiv).

Ira Lupu’s work explores the intersection of documentary and metaphorical space, where the carefully researched human worlds collide with ethereality. A core part of her photography is centred around the female experience — in her own body, emotional mind, or given environment.

Her ongoing project “On Dreams and Screens” focuses on the experiences of six online sex workers in Ukraine and the US exploring the place where an electronic body transitions into a real one.

Visions of Home art trail

Launching in Summer 2022, 'Visions of Home', curated by Ukrainian-born artist and photographer Ira Lupu, consists of six major public realm artworks, that form part of our free Wembley Park Art Trail. On display until October 2022, 'Visions of Home' incorporates a variety of photographic artworks, murals, and digital artworks – all conveying powerful messages to raise awareness of just how the sense of home has been forever altered, from the perspective of Ukrainian artists. ‘Visions of Home’ gently celebrates this peaceful place of belonging as an inseparable concept that lives forever in the Ukrainian consciousness, using the urban landscape of Wembley Park, with careful consideration, as the canvas for art allows the viewer to absorb its power and beauty at every turn, in a subtle yet impactful way.

Tvoya Opora

For ‘Visions of Home', Wembley Park is partnering with the charity fund Tvoya Opora, (meaning 'Your Support') which is currently fundraising to expand and improve the refugee shelter in Lviv, “Vse Bude Dobre” - “Everything Will Be Fine", – the most populated refugee camp in the country at present. Tvoya Opora is the shelter where Elena Subach & Helen Zhgir photographed much of the people featured in the exhibition.