Elena Subach (UA) is an artist, photographer and curator currently based in Lviv.
Bright to dazzling colours, inspired by traditional icon painting, contrived landscapes, the motif of the circle, striking materiality and interferences between reality and the unreal characterise ELENA SUBACH's works. The initiation of Subach's photographic works, explicitly the series 'Grandmothers on the edge of heaven', was the confrontation with her personal family history and her handling of grief. According to the artist, the works can furhtermore be understood as a “lyrical dedication to the older generation”. In doing so, Subach transfers motifs captured via camera to a metaphysical level; more precisely, Subach mounts her portrayed 'grandmothers' in a landscape of the sky created by her. In Elena Subach's distinctive visual language, documentation, staging, history and digital processes thus coincide. The results are emotional collages of attachment, religiosity, tradition and immediacy. At the same time, the artist sees her photographs as a means of communicating the particularities, beauty and fragility of her home Ukraine.
Elena was born in Chervonohrad, a coal-mining town in western Ukraine.
A small Galician city of Krystynopil was "transferred" from soviet Poland to soviet Ukraine in 1951 to exploit its newly discovered coal deposits and renamed Chervonohrad — "The Red City". In spite of that, due to its location on the border, Chervonohrad had access to Polish radio and TV, which were much more open than any media available in most of Ukraine.
A great impact on Elena had her grandfather who was a painter and were making icons for local churches and a library of her father.
Elena obtained a Master's degree in Economics in Volyn State University. Later she spent some time working as a textile designer in Kyiv and Lviv.
Elena came to photography around 2012, joining the "5x5 / Dzyga" art community. Since then, she has participated in dozens of exhibitions, projects and residencies around Europe.
In 2019 Elena starts to do curatorial work at Lviv National Art Gallery..