Tonya (Ton) Melnyk (b. 1988) is a textile and multimedia artist and queer-feminist activist from Kyiv, who works with topics of fairly priced labor, discrimination and ways to overcome it, preservation of queer history, antiwar topics and ecology.
Masha Ravlyk (b. 1987) is a multidisciplinary artist and queer feminist activist, born in Volzhsky, Russia. They work with topics such as resistance against capitalism and patriarchy, labor rights, overcoming discrimination, migration, poverty, self-care, and queer community subculture.
Melnyk and Ravlyk are both co-founders and participants of Ukrainian-Russian Shvemy Sewing Cooperative and experimental ReSew Sewing Cooperative. They have worked as an artist duo since 2016, and have projects implemented together as well as individual artistic pieces.
Melnyk and Ravlyk came to Finland as refugees from Ukraine in 2022, and are currently working here.
For the OAF festival Melnyk and Ravlyk are going to present Anti-war Textile Banners – Homage to Maria Prymachenko, inspired by a series of works dedicated to the Second World War by the Ukrainian artist in the 20th century. The work is a tribute to Prymachenko; inspired by her works, Melnyk and Ravlyk take a stand against Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Curators’ comments: “Melnyk’s and Ravlyk’s works are anti-war banners, made from a non-traditional, non-masculine perspective. These artists’ voices deserve to be heard. This is the kind of art we need.”
