Maryna Shtanko
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Maryna Shtanko (b.1992 in Poltava, Ukraine) is a visual artist working primarily with photography and exploring bookmaking, textile-based processes, embroidery, and video-performances. She has a Master’s degree in German Language & Literature (2014). After Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Maryna fled to Germany. She is currently based in Kiel, where she got her second Master’s degree in Photography at Muthesius Kunsthochschule in 2025. Maryna has been a recipient of several awards, grants, and scholarships. Her work has been exhibited in Ukraine, Switzerland, Austria, Lithuania, Germany, Slovenia among others.
ARTISTIC METHOD
Working across photography, textiles, bookmaking, and installation, I explore how physical materials can carry memory, uncertainty, and cultural meaning. Rather than treating photography as a fixed image, I am interested in its transformation through processes of fragmentation, layering, and interaction with the environment.
PROJECT DURING BORDERLAND RESIDENCIES
During the residency, she would like to continue developing her research into the ecological and symbolic significance of soil in Ukraine. In Heerlen and in the Rhineland mining region, she also seeks to explore the relationship between land, borders, and the resources hidden beneath the surface, drawing on the region’s mining history and reflecting on how land is shaped by political divisions. Through observation and material experimentation, she aims to investigate these interconnected layers of landscape.