Dr Olena Chervonik

I am an art historian and curator specialising in modern and contemporary art, with a particular focus on photography. My doctoral dissertation, “Heschel’s Florilegium: A History of a Colour Stain”, examined John Frederick William Herschel’s (1792–1871) experiments with plant dyes and their role in the development of colour photography.

Research Interests

My broader research interests include the intersection of photography and science—especially issues of representation and cognition—the materiality of photographic processes, and the history of Ukrainian art, particularly during the Soviet period.

Alongside my research, I maintain an active curatorial practice. I am currently working on several projects exploring Soviet photo clubs, amateur photography, and the nonconformist art movement that emerged in Kharkiv during the late 1960s. I also serve as a curator and academic editor at the Museum of the Kharkiv School of Photography (MOKSOP). Previously, I worked as a curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (USA), Izolyatsia: Platform for Cultural Initiatives (Donetsk, Ukraine), Videonale: Festival of Video Art at Kunstmuseum Bonn (Germany), and the Spencer Museum of Art (Kansas, USA).