15 AUGUST, 4:00 PMGARDEN
INTERNATIONAL ART PROJECTCORPORI PROPIOR… (Closer to the Body…)
The title of the project is derived from the Latin saying Tunica propior pallio est — "The tunic is closer to the body than the cloak." Reinterpreted today, it suggests: closer to the body means closer to the human being; closer to the human being means closer to wisdom.
The human body preserves memory no less than books or archives. That is why this project is not about clothing. It is about the human being and the memory each person leaves behind.
At the heart of the project are twelve art tunics created from antique linen fabric more than 150 years old. Once part of everyday life, the linen has been transformed into an artistic symbol of human presence and cultural memory.
The project was first presented in the Great Lavra Bell Tower of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. It was later exhibited at the Tiškevičiai Palace and the Trakai History Museum in Lithuania, where it became a dialogue between Ukrainian and Lithuanian cultural heritage. Today, the project returns to Ukraine, taking on new meaning within the unique setting of Saint Sophia of Kyiv.
Created especially for Saint Sophia is a new performance in which twelve women of different ages and life experiences become living embodiments of human memory. Together, they form a symbolic bouquet of human destinies, echoing one of Bouquet Kyiv Stage's central ideas—the harmony of diversity.
Saint Sophia of Kyiv is a symbol of Divine Wisdom. It is here that the project moves beyond reflections on memory to contemplate wisdom itself—the force born of experience, love, continuity, and the ability to pass life and culture on to future generations.
CORPORI PROPIOR… is about humanity, memory, and wisdom. It reminds us that what matters most is preserved not in objects but in human presence, connecting the past, the present, and the future.
Oksana Brenzovych (born 18 October 1976, Uzhhorod) is a contemporary Ukrainian artist working in the field of abstract expressionism. Her practice combines an intuitive visual language, emotional depth, and a philosophical exploration of the human inner world. The focus of her work is not form but state of being; not narrative but experience. As art historian and curator Taras Vozniak has observed, her paintings embody "thinking through painting"—an attempt not to describe the world but to reveal the invisible space between feeling and consciousness.
Oksana Brenzovych is a recipient of the Ukrainian Woman of the Third Millennium Award and participated in Expo 2020 Dubai, where she represented contemporary Ukrainian art. Her major projects include NUMBERS. LEMNISCATES, Scars, The Blue. Transformation, CORPORI PROPIOR… (Closer to the Body…), Letters from the Front, and The Blue: Water Memory.
Her works have been exhibited in Ukraine, Lithuania, Germany, Greece, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates, including at the National Museum of the History of Kyiv, the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra National Reserve, Pidhirtsi Castle of the Borys Voznytsky Lviv National Art Gallery, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, and the Trakai History Museum. Today, her works are part of international art projects that foster cultural dialogue between Ukraine and the world.
FREE ADMISSIONAdmission is available with a valid entrance ticket to the Sophia of Kyiv National Reserve (UAH 500 standard, UAH 250 reduced).Combat veterans are admitted free of charge and do not require an entrance ticket.