Elena Subach
Bio
Elena Subach is a Ukrainian visual artist based in Lviv. Born in the small mining town of Chervonohrod, she began her career in economics before turning fully to photography. Her work weaves together personal and collective histories, exploring the delicate interplay between people, their land, and cultural memory. Subach draws inspiration from little-known avant-garde groups of interwar Lviv, reimagining their legacy through a contemporary lens.
Her photographs create a sense of inclusion and quiet reflection, inviting viewers to linger in the spaces between private experience and shared memory. Subach has exhibited widely in Ukraine and internationally, including the Photo Élysée Museum (Switzerland), Kunstforum Wien (Austria), and the Nordic House Reykjavik (Iceland). Her work is held in public collections such as the Victoria & Albert Museum (UK) and Neues Museum, Nürnberg (Germany), and has been recognized with awards including Vogue Phuturespective (2025) and the New East Photo Prize (2016).
Her series Hidden and Fragility was presented at Paris Photo 2025 by Alexandra de Viveiros gallery, reflecting her ongoing exploration of vulnerability, memory, and the intimate traces of human presence.
Personal Exhibitions
2025 — “New Borders of My Body” at The Naked Room Gallery (Kyiv, Ukraine)
2025 — “New Borders of My Body” by Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool, UK)
2023 — “Hidden” at Palazzo Zuccari, Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome (Italy)
2020 — Posters on walls of Hamburg, Galerie 21 im Künstlerhaus Vorwerkstift
2019 — "Heroic Trip" at Szara Gallery (Katowice, Poland)
2019 — "City of Gardens" at EEP Berlin gallery (Germany)
2018 — "Subach / Poliakov" at The Naked Room gallery (Kyiv)
2016 — "Taxidermia" with Periscope group (Lviv)
2014 — "Retablos de Galicia" at Dzyga gallery (Lviv)
Selected Collections
Neues Museum Nürnberg (Germany)
Victoria & Albert Musem (UK)
Modern Religious Art Museum (Brussels, Belgium)
MOCA (Ukraine)
Museum of Kharkiv School of Photography (Ukraine)
Books
2022 — "Hidden (Сховане)" by Besides Press, UK
Awards & Mentions
2025 — FUTURESPECTIVE Jury Choice Award (Vogue Ukraine / PhotoVogue).
2022 — "Ones to Watch" by The British Journal of Photography
2019 — Participant of Futures Platform
2019 — Gaude Polonia scholarship by National Centre for Culture Poland
2019 — Shortlisted to Gomma Grant
2019 — Fotofestival Lodz Grand Prix finalist
2016 — New East Photo Prize Bigmag Special Prize and grant winner
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 — "Paris Photo" fair at Alexandra de Viveiros Gallery
2025 — "Home Beyond the Dawn" at EXPO 2025 Osaka (Japan)
2025 — "Voices From Ukraine" at Galeria Labirynt, Lublin (Poland)
2025 — "FUTURESPECTIVE" by Vogue Ukraine
@ M17 Contemporary Art Center (Kyiv)
@ Saatchi Gallery (London)
2024 — "NichteLemberg" at 91 Galerie (Frankfurt am Main, Germany)
2024 — "Essential Goods" at Kyiv`s Pavilion of Culture (Kyiv, Ukraine)
2024 — "Home Again" at Stadthaus Ulm (Ulm, Germany)
2024 — “Generations of Resilience” at Hangar Photo Art Center (Brussels, Belgium)
2024 — "Home: Ukrainian Photography" at Edinburg Art Festival, Steel Gallery (Edinburg)
2024 — "Home Beyond the Dawn" at MUSA (Museum of the Arts) University of Guadalajara (Mexico)
2023 — "CROSS-ING WAY-S” at the Modern Religious Art Museum (Brussels, Belgium)
2024 — “Contra Spem Spero. Storie dall Ucraina”
@ Museo Civico di Bari (Italy)
@ Centro Internazionale di Fotografia (Palermo, Italy)
2023 — “How Did I Get To The Bombshelter”
@ Mark Rothko Art Centre (Latvia)
@ Nordic House, Reykjavik (Iceland)
@ Ukraine House in Denmark (Copenhagen)
@ Klaipėdos kultūrų komunikacijų centro (KKKC) (Lithuania)
2023 — “Crossing Lines. Politics of Images” at Foto Arsenal Wien (FOTO WIEN 2023, Austria)
2023 — "How River Roars" at Krupa Art Foundation (Wrocław, Poland)
2023 — "Are you okay? Ти як?" at Ukrainian House (Kyiv, Ukraine)
2023 — "Home" by Open Eye Gallery (London, UK) and Ukrainian.Photographies
2023 — "The Art of Coping with War" at Museum für Kommunikation, Berlin
2023 — "Ukraine. Work-in-Progress" at KVOST, Berlin
2023 — Riga Photography Biennial "NEXT 2023!""
2023 — "Kharkiv School of Photography — 50 Jahre künstlerische Fotografie aus der Ukraine" at MAXI – Kunst, Nürnberg (DE)
2022–23 — Tell Them About Battles, Meteors and Eggplant Caviar
@ Galerie Le Carré d’Art, Culturel Pôle Sud, Chartres de Bretagne (FR)
@ Simultania, Strasbourg, FR
@ Claude Cahun Center (Nantes, France)
2022 — “We are no longer feel the Future” in MUZA — Eretz Israel Museum (Tel Aviv)
2022 — "#UKRAINE IMAGES OF WAR" at Photo Elysee Museum of Photography, Lausanne (Swiss)
2022 — "Death and the Maiden - Der Tod und das Mädchen", Kunstforum Wien (Austria)
2022 — “In Ukraine” at the Gallery at Dobbin Mews (New York)
2022-05 — "With Ukraine" at Hinterconti gallery, Hamburg (DE)
2022 — "Foreboding Landscape" by Odessa Photo Days, series of exhibitions:
@ La Chambre in Strasburg (FR)
@ Palais de Tokyo in the frame of The Parliament of Photography, Paris
@ Fotofestival Lodz (PL)
2022 — "Unfolding Landscapes", series of exhibitions:
@ Art Centre Silkeborg Bad (Denmark)
@ Art & History Museum Brussels
@ KunstZeugHaus (Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland)
2022 — ”Slava Ukraini” at Czwartek gallery (Warsaw)
2022 — Secondary Archive by Katarzyna Kozyra Foundation
2021 — "Sensitivity. Contemporary Ukrainian Photography" at Mystetskyi Arsenal (Kyiv)
2021 — Odesa Photo Days festival, main exhibition “Who is next to you?”, Museum of Odesa Modern Art
2019 — "Woven Matter" at Unseen (Amsterdam)
2019 — "Between Fire and Fire: Ukrainian Art Now" by Ukrainian Institute at Semperdepot (Wien)
2019 — "Let’s Talk About Modernity" by Fundacja Tadeusza Kantora at Jam Factory (Lviv)
2019 — "Ukrainian Cross-Section" (Український Зріз) at Triennale of Contemporary Art (Lviv)
2019 — "Inny, Obcy, Swoi" at Labirynt gallery (Lublin, Poland)
2019 — Fotofestival Lodz (Poland)
2019 — Fotoart Festival (Bielsko-Biala, Poland)
2019 — II Biennale of Young Ukrainian Art (Kharkiv, Ukraine)
2019 — "How to deal with history" by Ostlook platform at Kolga Tbilisi Photo Festival (Georgia)
2018 — "Somewhere now" (Tam gdzie teraz) in Galerię Labirynt (Lublin, Poland)
2018 — Circulations Festival (Paris)
2017 — The Festival of Young Ukrainian Artists at Mysteskyi Arsenal (Kyiv)
2017 — "Knowns-Unknowns. Lviv photography after the year 2000" Ludwik Zamenhof Centre during Białystok Interphoto Festival (Białystok, Poland)
2017 — Ostrale Biennale (Dresden, Germany)
2017 — EASTStreet 4. Photo festival (Lublin, Poland)
2016 — The Boutographies — Rencontres Photographiques de Montpellier, slideshow (France)
2016 — "Elementary Manipulation" exhibition at Ukrainian Week in Gdansk (Poland)
2016 — "Galicia Cult: Western Ukrainian Art" at Yermilov Centre (Kharkiv)
2016 — Odesa-Batumi Photodays festival (Batumi, Georgia; Odesa, Ukraine)
2016 — Group "Group" exhibition at WBA gallery (Wroclaw, Poland)
2016 — "Strolls With Pleasure And Not Without Moral", Group "Group" exhibition at Ya Gallery (Dnipro, Ukraine)
2016 — Performative curatorial exhibition by Lars Willumeit and Der Greif Magazine during Krakow Photomonth Open Weekend (Krakow, Poland)
2016 — "Saving the Bridge" project by Urban SOYC. Photography, installation (Henychesk, Ukraine)
2015 — Gogol Fest (Kyiv, Ukraine)
2015 — "Dnipro Alternative Art Guide" book by SvitArt gallery, photography for publication (Dnipro, Ukraine)
2015 — Project Cell|One|Fication / Paul Celan Festival at Shteinbarg gallery. Performance, video, installation (Chernivtsi, Ukraine)
2015 — EASTStreet 3. Photo festival, open call finalists exhibition (Lublin, Poland)
2014 — Terra-Futura festival (Kherson, Ukraine)
2015 — "Stops" exibition (Subach, Cherneha, Poliakov) at Chernihiv Municipal Musem (Chernihiv, Ukraine)
2014 — London Analog Festival, open call finalists exhibition (London, UK)
2014 — "She" project (Maria Voynova, Mariana Klochko, Marta Shwets, Taisiya Raynyk) at Bastion Gallery (Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine)