Helsinki-Kyiv

A series of paired works
exploring connections between Helsinki and Kyiv through everyday life.

Helsinki–Kyiv emerged during my artist residency in Helsinki in 2026.

While drawing in Helsinki, I repeatedly encountered details that recalled places, situations, and unfinished subjects from Kyiv. A tram line, a railway station, a power plant, reflections after rain, people waiting, traveling, or returning home — ordinary scenes in one city often led me back to memories of the other.

At first, these connections appeared unexpectedly. I would notice a subject in Helsinki and remember a place I had drawn years earlier in Kyiv, or a Kyiv sketch that had never developed into a finished work. Over time, these associations accumulated and gradually formed the basis of a larger project.

Each pair brings together one image from Helsinki and one from Kyiv, creating a dialogue that explores visual and emotional parallels between the two cities. The works do not compare landmarks or well-known views.

Instead, they focus on everyday places and situations that reveal how cities are experienced through movement, work, weather, infrastructure, and daily routines.

The project grew into a series of 58 works. The exhibition at Myymälä2 in Helsinki (April 8–19, 2026) included 23 watercolors and 12 monotypes arranged in paired dialogues between the two cities. Some works emerged from direct observation, while others grew from memory, association, and earlier sketches, including subjects connected with my previous series Ljutyj 2022 and #KyivCityExpress. Watercolor and monotype allowed me to move between careful observation and a more condensed visual language, preserving the impression that first attracted my attention.

The project reflects on continuity, infrastructure, and everyday life: the systems, movements, and forms of work that quietly sustain a city and support human resilience.

Selected Works

Watercolors and monotypes arranged as dialogues between two cities.

Helsinki: Salmisaari Power Plant

During my first days in Helsinki, my husband and I walked to the seashore. Across the frozen bay, we saw the Salmisaari power plant. I immediately wanted to draw it.
For many people, a power plant is simply part of the urban infrastructure. For me, it had acquired a different meaning. In Kyiv, the plume above the Darnytska CHPP had become a daily sign that the city was functioning: that homes had heat, electricity, and water. Looking at the steam rising above the frozen shoreline in Helsinki, I found myself thinking about the systems and people whose work quietly sustains everyday life.

Kyiv: Darnytska CHPP

The Darnytska CHPP is visible from the windows of our apartment in Kyiv. During the winters of recent years, the smoke above it became more than part of the cityscape. It was a sign that the systems supporting daily life were still working.On February 3, 2026, the Darnytska CHPP was destroyed by Russian missiles. Its restoration will take months. More than a thousand residential buildings remain without heating. After that, the image no longer felt like a neutral industrial landscape. It became a reminder of how much everyday life depends on infrastructure and on the people who keep it running.

Helsinki: Mechelininkatu

I often saw tram number 8 passing between two tall spruces near our temporary home in Helsinki. Snow still covered the ground, and the dark green tram seemed almost like another element of the landscape.
The scene stayed with me because of its quiet balance: the winter light, the trees, the curve of the tracks, and the schoolboy waiting at the stop. It was one of the first Helsinki subjects I wanted to paint.
Only later did I remember that tram number 8 also runs near our home in Kyiv. This small coincidence led me back to an unfinished drawing and eventually connected the two works within the Helsinki–Kyiv series.

Kyiv: Furious July 2022

In the summer of 2022, anti-tank obstacles appeared around Darnytsia Square in Kyiv. They remained there for months and gradually became part of the familiar landscape.
I wanted to draw this place because of a particular scene: tram number 8 passing the concrete barriers while a mother walked across the square with her young daughter carrying a doll. Everyday life continued alongside the visible signs of war.
When I later noticed tram number 8 near our temporary home in Helsinki, I remembered this unfinished Kyiv subject. The two works became connected through a detail that was completely ordinary: the same tram number appearing in two different cities and two very different circumstances.

Olly Helsinki Kyiv 05 1024x1024 — Helsinki: Galleria Kirjo

Olly Helsinki Kyiv 06 1024x1024 — Helsinki: Galleria Kirjo

Process

The Helsinki–Kyiv series developed gradually during my residency in Finland. Some works were created directly from observation, while others grew from memories, earlier sketches, photographs, and subjects that remained with me long after I first noticed them.
The images in this section show sketchbook pages, monotype printing, works in progress, and the preparation of the exhibition. Together they document different stages of the project, from the first idea to the final presentation.

olly helsinki kyiv process7 — Work place

Exhibition Views

Helsinki–Kyiv was presented as a solo exhibition at Myymälä2 Gallery (Uudenmaankatu 23 F, Helsinki) in April 2026. The exhibition included 23 watercolors and 12 monotypes selected from a larger series developed during my residency in Finland. The works were presented in pairs, creating visual dialogues between the two cities..

olly helsinki kyiv exibit2 — Installation view

Artist Bio

Olga Karpenko (Olly) is a Ukrainian artist working primarily in watercolor, monotype, and drawing. Her practice combines direct work from life with graphic experimentation and printmaking techniques.
She develops long-term projects that grow from sustained interest in particular places, environments, and recurring motifs. Urban landscapes, transport systems, flowers, trees, birds, waterways, and traces of everyday human activity frequently appear in her work. Alongside watercolor, she works with monotype, ink drawing, and mixed graphic techniques.
Olly has presented solo exhibitions in Ukraine and Finland and participated in national and international group exhibitions. She is a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. Originally from Kyiv, she currently lives and works in Finland..

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Acknowledgements

This project was developed during my residency in Finland through the Artist at Risk programme. My sincere thanks to everyone who supports the programme and to Perpetuum Mobile for initiating it.

Contact

WhatsApp/ Telegram/Viber

+380960885677

olly.olga@gmail.com