Even If I Am Not at Home - An Exhibition by Daryna Klekot, winner of the Chrysalis Project

Exhibition description

Even If I Am Not at Home brings together paintings and mixed-media works developed by Daryna Klekot during her residency at Clubb’s Yard Studios. Within the exhibition, two visual languages are woven together, each emerging from a different personal need.

One looks towards Ukraine. Sunflowers, fruit, birds, floral wreaths, traditional dress and richly painted decorative patterns become expressions of cultural memory and pride. Daryna first encountered many of these motifs through art, literature and poetry during her education in Ukraine. Following her displacement by war, imagery that was once familiar acquired a new urgency, offering a way to remember and remain connected with home.

In one of the exhibition’s largest work, pages from a poetry book are collaged and folded into a layered, ruffled border around an oval composition of traditional Ukrainian patterns. The patterns repeat in concentric layers, gradually becoming darker and less distinct until they disappear into a central void. This movement from clarity into darkness evokes cultural memory under pressure: traditions are remembered and carried forward, yet distance from home introduces a profound sense of absence and the possibility that parts may become fragmented or lost.

The other strand belongs more privately to Daryna’s imagination. Anime characters, animals, moonlit ponds, rural landscapes, open books and fantastical creatures occupy circular and arched surfaces that resemble windows or portals into other worlds. These works exist without the obligation to represent national identity or the experience of war. As Daryna explains, “Some parts are just for me. This is the art I would have made without any disruption to my world growing up.”

These two strands are not entirely separate. Flowers, animals, landscapes and storytelling move between them, connecting inherited traditions with contemporary popular culture and personal fantasy. Both become ways of creating a sense of place when home is geographically distant.

Even If I Am Not at Home is not solely an exhibition about loss or nostalgia. It is about Daryna’s right to remember, imagine, experiment and take pleasure in making art without being defined by her displacement. Home survives within these paintings not as a single fixed location, but through images, stories and traditions carried forward into new and imagined worlds.

Artist biography

Daryna Klekot (b. 2007) is a Ukrainian artist working across painting and mixed media. Her work draws upon Ukrainian cultural traditions, poetry, rural imagery, animation and fantasy to explore memory, displacement and personal identity.

Interested in art from a young age, Daryna developed her knowledge of Ukraine’s artistic, literary and poetic traditions through her education. Following her displacement by the war in Ukraine, these cultural references became increasingly important within her practice, offering a way to maintain a connection with home. Alongside them, imagined characters, animals and storybook environments provide a space for curiosity, play and individual expression.

In 2026, Daryna was awarded the Chrysalis Prize through St George’s Gallery. The prize included a four-month studio residency at Clubb’s Yard Studios, materials supplied by Artist Surfaces and a programme of mentoring with artist Matthew John Atkinson.

Mentoring programme

Throughout her four-month residency, Daryna was mentored by Matthew John Atkinson, a practising artist, founder and director of Artist Surfaces and co-director of Clubb’s Yard Studios.

Through regular studio conversations, Matthew supported Daryna in reflecting critically on her developing work, recognising connections between her cultural references and personal interests, and considering how the individual paintings could come together as a coherent exhibition. His role was not to direct Daryna towards a particular style or interpretation, but to provide the encouragement, critical challenge and space needed for her to make confident artistic decisions of her own.

Drawing upon his experience as both an artist and specialist fabricator of artists’ surfaces, Matthew also advised Daryna on materials, scale, shaped supports, presentation and installation. The mentoring extended to the professional aspects of developing an exhibition, including selecting and sequencing work, articulating its central ideas and presenting her practice to a public audience.

The programme was designed to give Daryna the freedom to experiment while helping her develop a clearer understanding of her own visual language and greater confidence in her identity as an emerging artist.