BELOVED
By
Noel Faucett
A continuation of the 2024 series Take Only What You Can Carry, Beloved presents an ongoing collaboration with the Liubi family, following them through four years of full-scale war.
The work traces the family from their arrival in the UK as refugees, through separation from home and family, to their decision to return to Kyiv and the strange parallel reality they are now forced to inhabit.
Working closely with the family over a number of years, Faucett documents both the visible and invisible consequences of war: moments of endurance and tenderness alongside the absurdity of ordinary family life continuing under extraordinary circumstances.
The exhibition was accompanied by a public programme of performances, film screenings, workshops and fundraising events. Throughout the exhibition, the space was opened up for guest artist talks, film screenings and workshops, extending the exhibition beyond the work on the walls and creating a space for discussion, performance and community.
The opening event featured a performance by Громада / Hromada Collective, a London-based Ukrainian folk singing collective, developed in response to the work on the walls.
Produced with: BULDHOLLYWOOD VSESVIT HROMADA ALITTLECROWDOFUS
Take Only What You Can Carry brought together photographs made by Noel Faucett during repeated journeys to Ukraine and through work with the Ukrainian diaspora in London.
The project began following the transport of medical supplies to Lviv in March 2022 and developed into an ongoing body of work spanning the following years.
Presented alongside the exhibition was TVIR, an artist zine pairing Faucett’s photographs with Ukrainian literary voices in translation. The project explored art, craft and culture as forms of resistance to cultural erasure and sought to place Ukrainian voices alongside the work.
The exhibition took its title from a poem by Serhiy Zhadan:
Take the icons and the embroidery, take the silver,
Take the wooden crucifix and the golden replicas.
Take the wooden crucifix and the golden replicas.
Developed in collaboration with Vsesvit, a Ukrainian solidarity organisation based in London, proceeds from exhibition and zine sales supported grassroots humanitarian initiatives including housing renovation projects for internally displaced people, aid distribution and medical support.
Beyond the work on the walls, the exhibition sought to create a space for conversation, fundraising and slower engagement with the lived realities behind the images.
Produced with: BULDHOLLYWOOD VSESVIT HROMADA ALITTLECROWDOFUS
