Art studio major Alice Herbert, now in her fourth year at Davis, welcomes the feedback and guidance that comes from visiting artists. Herbert is enrolled in Art 113 this quarter taught by Katya Grokhovsky, a visiting professor in the UC Davis Department of Art and Art History. Grokhovsky’s residency in art studio is made possible by The Manetti Shrem California Studio, a program supported by longtime arts benefactors Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem. Herbert primarily works in sculpture and was drawn to Grokhovsky’s course, which focuses on interdisciplinary uses of “space, body, material, and time.” 

Grokhovsky’s expansive practice, which includes artmaking and curation, is exciting to Herbert. She said, “Katya’s [artistic] initiatives definitely spoke to me.” Herbert also took spring quarter visiting professor Shimon Attie’s art class in The Manetti Shrem California Studio. In it, Herbert and other students created digital artworks that were installed in downtown Davis and Sacramento. To Herbert, creating pieces with community in mind was “a very rich experience.” At the end of this quarter, Grokhovsky’s Art 113 students, including Herbert, will organize a collaborative pop-up exhibition, influenced in part by coming into contact with Grokhovsky’s own art practice.

Grokhovsky’s Nomadic Art

Grokhovsky describes her practice as “nomadic” and shaped by her experience as an immigrant. Her art often uses found objects, repurposed fabrics, and the artist’s body to create sculpture, performance, painting and video.

“The strongest sense of identity I possess is being originally from Ukraine and migrating to Australia with my family when I was 15…. To me, the meaning of home has always been a moving target, a fleeting, yet significant place of safety, comfort and protection, a particular feeling.”
        —Katya Grokhovsky, in an interview with Art Breath

In a recent work titled Point A, a multi-chapter mixed-media project, Grokhovsky explores memory and the immigrant experience. In the video, Point A: Chapter 2, she juxtaposes sound recordings of air raid sirens in Kyiv during the Russian invasion with immigrant achievements in the United States and personal photographs from her childhood in Ukraine. The project reimagines places now destroyed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In 2019, Grokhovsky founded The Immigrant Artist Biennial (TIAB), the first and only biennial to focus exclusively on art by immigrant artists. Before beginning her visiting professorship in The Manetti Shrem California Studio, Grokovsky launched the second iteration of TIAB. Titled “Contact Zone,” this biennial includes work by 48 artists from more than 35 countries and is curated by Bianca Abdi-Boragi, Katherine Adams and Anna Mikaela Ekstrand. In a recent PerformVu podcast episode with Asia Stewart, Grokhovsky described the theme of “Contact Zone” as being one of “contact across borders, across nations, bringing us back together in actual physicality,” and considers it to be a reminder of our physical connections in a post-pandemic world. 

Public Lectures

Grokhovsky will give two public lectures at UC Davis in October. 

• On Thursday, Oct. 12, at 4:30 p.m. at the Manetti Shrem Museum, she will give a talk about her work. The talk is co-sponsored by the Manetti Shrem Museum and Global Affairs at UC Davis. The talk is free and open to the public. Doors open at 4 p.m.
• On Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 12:00 p.m. in the Social Sciences and Humanities Building, Grokhovsky will speak of her own immigrant artist experience and practice as part of the UC Davis Global Migration Center’s mission to produce research that drives effective policies and interventions focused on vulnerable migrants. Seating is limited.