About
Anton Shebetko (he/him) is a Ukrainian artist, photographer, curator, and writer from Kyiv who currently lives in Amsterdam. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gerrit Rietveld Academie. His works focus on the issues facing the LGBTQ+ community in Ukraine, themes of memory, loss of identity, multiplicity of history, and the role that photography and archival materials can play in revealing these stories. Most of his research is devoted to the forgotten queer history of Ukraine; part of it was recently published in his book "A Very Brief and Subjective Queer History of Ukraine". His work has been exhibited at the FOAM Museum and Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Frei_raum Q21 Exhibition Space in Vienna, Austria; Photo Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland; CENTQUATRE-PARIS in Paris, France; BWA Studio in Wroclaw, Poland; Württembergischer Kunstverein in Stuttgart, Germany; and Mystetskyi Arsenal in Kyiv, Ukraine. He gave talks and lectures at Maastricht University, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, and Between Bridges Gallery. He was a recipient of the RM Residency Award and the Where Love Is Illegal Fellowship.
CV:
Education:
2018-2022 — Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Bachelor of Arts
Current exhibitions:
07.07-30.09 — Queerstories_UA_PL, Galeria Labirynt, Lublin, Poland
Upcoming exhibitions:
03.10-03.02.2024 — Ted Noten & co. - over waarde, Museum Jan, Amstelveen, Netherlands
17.10-17.12.2023 — Kyiv Biennial, Augarten Contemporary, Vienna, Austria
18.10-16.11.2023 — Recharge and Revolt: Queer Resistance and Rave Culture in Ukraine, Melkweg Expo, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Curatorial:
2023 — Recharge and Revolt: Queer Resistance and Rave Culture in Ukraine, Melkweg Expo, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Solo exhibitions:
2023 — Ukrainian Queer TV: An Open Archive, Kauno menininkų namai, Kaunas, Lithuania
2023 — A Brief Queer History of Ukraine, BWA Gallery, Wroclaw, Poland
2023 — To Know Us Better, Unity Theater, Liverpool, United Kingdom
2022 — Three Kind Reminders, Okna, Porto, Portugal
2022 — What grows in the heart, Catalyst Arts, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2022 — To Know Us Better, Foam Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2021 — Ditya Poroka, Noch, Odesa, Ukraine
2019 — It's Not the End of the World, Robert Kananj Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2019 — Rituals, Club Church, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2018 — We were here, IZOLYATSIA Foundation, Izone, Kyiv, Ukraine
2018 — Common People, Robert Kananaj Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2017 — Summer Moved on, Karas Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2016 — Gospel of Leg, Art Area DK, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Group exhibitions:
2023 — Ted Noten & co. - over waarde, Museum Jan, Amstelveen, Netherlands
2023 — Queerstories_UA_PL, Galeria Labirynt, Lublin, Poland
2023 — Kunst und Leben in Zeiten des Krieges, Württembergischen Kunstverein Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
2023 — KunstRAI x Rietveld Alumni: A Hook’s Eye, KunstRAI, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2023 — Home. Perspectives, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK
2023 — Ukrainian Perspectives: Photography from the 1940s–now, ChaShaMa, New York, USA
2022 — #Ukraine. Images of War, Photo Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
2022 — Onbereikbare liefde, 033fotostad, Amersfoort, Netherlands
2022 — Big DaDa, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2022 — Graduation Show, Melkweg Expo, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2022 — Best of Graduates, Ron Mandos Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2022 — No Dancing Allowed, Frei_raum Q21 Exhibition Space, Wien, Austria
2022 — Never Not Fighting, Hyper Hypo, Athens, Greece
2022 — Slava Ukraini!, Galeria Czwartek, Warsaw, Poland
2022 — Simeiz, Oceanic Imaginaries, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
2021 — While We Were Waiting, Melkweg Expo, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2021 — Garden after Gods, JUMP Contemporary Art Center, Poltava, Ukraine
2021 — I don't wanna dance, Brave! Factory Festival, Kyiv, Ukraine
2021 — Sensitivity, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine
2020 — #брюдершафт, Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv
2020 — Standartas, Autarkia, Vilnius, Lithuania
2020 — Of Texture and Structure, Fotografia Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia
2020 — Common People, Circulation(s) Festival, Paris, France
2019 — Disobedient bodies, Kmytiv Museum of Art, Kmytiv, Ukraine
2019 — 32 (part of exhibition from MUHI competition finalists), Taras Shevchenko Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine
2019 — UPHA IN DA OFFICE, Kyiv, Ukraine
2019 — Formation, Brave! Factory Festival, Kyiv, Ukraine
2019 — UPHA: Made in Ukraine, AkT, Kyiv, Ukraine
2019 — MIM: A Queer Fundraiser for the Benefit of Refugees, WestergasTheater, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2019 — Common People, Careful with That Axe, Eugene, AkT, Kyiv, Ukraine
2019 — Deep storage, LOLA BAE, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2018 — Pomada Festival, Warsaw, Poland
2017 — Festival of Young Ukrainian Artists, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine
2017 — We are Youth, AkT, Kyiv, Ukraine
2017 — Call and Response: Art as Resistance, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, USA
2017 — Container Love, MS Dockville, Hamburg, Germany
2016 — Photographic Unconscious, Modern Art Research Institute, Kyiv, Ukraine
2016 — I'm Not There, Kyiv History Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine
Festivals, screenings:
2023 — Riga Photography Biennial, Latvia
2023 — Sunny Bunny Film Festival, Ukraine
2023 — Lovers Film Festival, Italy
2022 — image+nation Film Festival, Canada
2022 — Fotofestiwal Lodz, Poland
2022 — The Queer Archive Festival, Athens, Greece
2020 — Kolga Tbilisi Photo, Tbilisi, Georgia
2020 — Circulation(s) Festival, Paris, France
2017 — Festival of Young Ukrainian Artists, Kyiv, Ukraine
Awards:
2022 — Ron Mandos Residency Award, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2019 — Finalist, MUHI 2019, Ukraine
2019 — Shortlist, Discovery of the Year, Ukrcontempphoto Awards, Ukraine
2016 — Finalist of Non Stop Media Festival VII, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Residencies, fellowships:
2022 — Artist in residence, Frei_raum Q21 Exhibition Space
2022 — Where Love Is Illegal Fellowship
2022 — Once Upon a Queer, organised by IZOLYATSIA Foundation, Kyiv, Ukraine
2018 — Coming Out of Isolation, organised by IZOLYATSIA Foundation, Kyiv, Ukraine
Lectures, artist talks, panel discussions:
2023 — Ukraine: Role of Arts in Wartime, ifa gallery, Stuttgart, Germany
2023 — Research of queer cinema and queer culture in Ukraine, Sunny Bunny Festival, Kyiv, Ukraine
2023 — A Very Brief Queer History of Ukraine, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
2023 — A Very Brief Queer History of Ukraine, Between Bridges, Berlin, Germany
2023 — On Camouflage, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam
2022 — Presentation of "A Very Brief and Subjective Queer History of Ukraine", Buchhandlung Walther König at MuseumsQuartier, Wien
Books:
2023 — Dik Fagazine (co-edited with Karol Radziszewski)
2022 — A Very Brief and Subjective Queer History of Ukraine, self-published
2021 — Мальчики! (Boys!), self-published
Publications:
Butt Magazine, Vice, British Journal of Photography, Sleek Mag, De Correspondent, Het Parool, W Magazine, Metropolis M, BBC, Bird in Flight, Calvert Journal, KyivPost, DW Ukrainian, GUP Magazine, Huck Magazine, Don’t Take Fake Magazine