What is life without flowers? And what is a flower without life? Death. Through this central paradox, Kulikovska’s Bullet of Flowers explores the violent duality of our time. The flower — a symbol in Western art of fleeting beauty, innocence, and even the Virgin Mary as the Mother of Humanity — is here fused with its antithesis: the bullet. The result is a body of work where petals signify traditional healing, subverting the projectile’s original purpose to kill.

The two-room installation is a journey through the cycle of life, born from the artist’s daily reality in Kyiv, where war is an ever-present force. Her practice has become a cry against violence and an insistence that every human life matters. In Bullet of Flowers, she translates this complexity into a tangible, visceral experience. In the rooms, piano music can be heard: the latest piece by the celebrated Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov (1937, Kyiv, Ukraine), performed by the renowned pianist Evgeny Gromov (1973, Klopotivtsi, Ukraine). The melody is intended as a curse on enemies — a shamanistic act of protection.

Central to the installation is a series of new works where watercolour paintings of flora — roses, lilies, thistles, artemisia, marigolds, passionflowers, and rhododendrons — are embedded within sheets of translucent epoxy resin, creating a fragile “skin.” These flowers are not merely decorative; they are a recollection of the artist’s childhood in her grandmother’s garden, where every herb and bloom was used for healing. By revisiting this lost past, Kulikovska seeks strategies to endure the present, highlighting the equal exposure and brief life of both wild and cultivated flowers. This “epoxy skin” becomes a signature motif in this pavilion. Photographs of the artist’s own body parts are sealed within these resin skins and hung on a military-grade net — an object used for both combat and domestic life. This act symbolically exposes her own body to the viewer, presenting it as another fading flower, caught in the intersection of private vulnerability and public conflict. The work speaks to the artist’s experiences of war, exile, and the relentless search for a home embedded in her DNA.

A central installation — a two-sided curtain — serves as a threshold between the private and public spheres. On one side, visitors encounter a translucent skin, a reliquiae of the body. On the reverse, created in collaboration with the artist’s mother, the curtain becomes a carpet woven from wool, bandages, and hair. To pass through is to immerse oneself fully in the artist’s world, to feel the weight of what it means to live when life itself becomes a fragile silver lining.

The pavilion also confronts the reality of cultural violence. Lying on the floor are the remnants of once life-sized epoxy sculptures — the form for which Kulikovska is best known. These “broken bodies” were vandalized in a public space in Copenhagen, Denmark. In a powerful act of artistic resilience, Kulikovska has incorporated this act of destruction into the work. These shattered forms are no longer just symbols of fragility; they are its victims.

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Production and Organisation: Garage33 Gallery-Shelter (Kyiv)

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The pavilion is supported by Roza Tapanova.

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Dates: 11 March – 29 May 2026

Location: Thematic Pavilion, Malta

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Project Team:

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Artist: Maria Kulikovska

Commissioner: Mariana Dzhulai / Block A gallery

Curator: Eszter Csillag

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Founder of Garage33, Produser: Oleh Vinnichenko

Designer, Identity Author: Olha Kuzovkina

Production Engineer: Fadey Tatarchuk

Communication Manager, Coordinator: Natalia Riabkina

Coordinator: Alex Hrabovskykh

Spatial Designer: Andrii Skrypka

PR Manager: Alisa Mallien

Sound Producer: Maksym Razdobudko

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