You're reading: Taras Shevchenko exhibition takes over Kyiv metro station

Kyiv’s Taras Shevchenko metro station is for a month hosting an exhibition of posters featuring the iconic Ukrainian poet in a number of modern guises – from Darth Vader to the Statue of Liberty.

Called “Shevchenko’s Quantum Leap. Subway,” the exhibition consists of 30 posters of Shevchenko, the legendary Ukrainian poet and freedom fighter, as iconic musicians, poets, actors, and fictional characters, including David Bowie and Spider-man.

The exhibition, a collaboration between the National Museum of Taras Shevchenko and artist Oleksandr Grekhov, will be held on the platform at the Taras Shevchenko metro station from Feb. 10 to March 10.

Anastasia Aboliesheva, the coordinator of the exhibition, said the museum was seeking a new way to connect with a range of audiences, from children to the older generations.

‘Many myths exist surrounding Taras Shevchenko,” Aboliesheva said. “Many Ukrainians believe that he is a prophet, someone sacred who cannot be touched, like a holy icon hidden in a closet. These (views) were imposed by Soviet ideology, and we want to show Taras Shevchenko as a human with his own likes and weaknesses, first and foremost.”

People walk out the train on the platform of the Taras Shevchenko metro station, where “Shevchenko’s Quantum Leap. Subway” exhibition takes place on Feb. 11 in Kyiv. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)

Grekhov and the museum have worked together before: last year the museum held within its own walls an exhibition of Grekhov posters portraying Schevchenko. The National Museum of Taras Shevchenko is also planning to sell prints of the artist’s illustrations in its store.

The ‘Shevchenko’s Quantum Leap’ project is an alloy of freedom of thought and science,” the museum wrote on its Facebook page. “It is an attempt to modernize old things … an adventure with the father of Ukrainian literature…”

There are already signs that the public very much appreciate the artwork – in two days two of the posters, depicting Shevchenko as Frida Kahlo and Master Yoda, have been stolen.

Shevchenko, who was born on March 9, 1814, is known as the father of modern Ukrainian literature and symbolizes the independence of the Ukrainian people. Shevchenko’s writings influenced modern Ukrainian literature to the degree that he is also considered the founder of the modern written form of the Ukrainian language.

The English version of Shevchenko’s narrative poem “Kateryna” was recently published by the Kyiv-based publishing house Osnovy.