The performers, co-curators, and scenographers are Anna Potyomkina, Olesia Saienko, Zoriana Kozak, Alisa Epifanova and Oksana Pohrebennyk
2026
Overview: The First Woman is an investigative podcast and research project by Asia Tsisar and the “Asortymentna Kimnata” gallery, dedicated to Maia (Milica) Symashkevych, a forgotten pioneer of Ukrainian scenography in the 1920s. The project explores her legacy, censorship, disrupted institutional memory, and the role of women in art.
Following the release of limited podcast series, the performative exhibition Six Women expands the project conceptually, bringing to life the story of prolific 20th-century Ukrainian set designer Maya Symashkevych, whose legacy has largely been erased from institutional archives. It takes the form of fiction-based art in a context where no physical archive has survived, where imagination replaces the archive, allowing the creators to work with absence, speculation, and reconstructed memory.
A performative exhibition is part of the project First Woman (Перша жінка) supported by RIBBON INTERNATIONAL Key Work Grants
Watch the performance
Video about the project
Text about the performative reenactment
Detail Images of the process