Tamara Ustenko
About
Tamara Ustenko (b. 2000, Kyiv, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian artist, based in London.
Through sculpture, moving image, photography and installation, Tamara explores archaeology as a poetic tool for cultural resistance. Her ongoing project Ukrainian Archaeology reimagines the act of unearthing as both literal and symbolic, tracing how Ukrainian identity has long been forced underground for its survival. Working with materials like bones, ash, blood, moss, tarmac, Tamara is developing a sculptural book where each bone becomes a page of what was once hidden, a floor-based sculpture layered with buried stories, as well as a video work that decodes and reframes these gestures.
Beyond Ukrainian Archaeology, she investigates how surroundings can act as silent witnesses and store traces of violence. Through staged forensic photographs printed on textured wallpaper fragments, she explores how surfaces might record memory and serve as evidence of crime.
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