In February 2026, the Kyiv National Art Gallery and the Temo Svirely Foundation presented the exhibition “PEOPLE". The project brought together 15 works of Temo Svirely, a Georgian-Ukrainian artist whose art was deeply influenced by the human suffering witnessed during the war in Georgia. The works spanned different periods of the artist's life: from pieces made in the 1990s after the war in Georgia, to "People", created in the last year of Svirely's life, at the onset of Russia's war against Ukraine in 2014.
The "People" series became the finale of Svirely’s body of work. It is an artistic statement about the passage of time and about keeping a dream alive even amid historical catastrophes. Temo Svirely's characters — performers, warriors, generals, kings, children, dolls, mythical creatures — go through painful changes without losing their humanity or inner light.
As a part of this project, the Temo Svirely Foundation donated Temo's painting "Yellow Symphony" to the collection of the Kyiv National Art Gallery. It is the first work in the museum's collection to represent the artist's oeuvre, and an important step in preserving and contextualizing his artistic legacy.
Not every life story ends at death. After death, life continues in memory, in art, and in people.
Curators: Veronika Shchukina, Oleksandra Ryzhova. Communications: Mariia Dumina. SMM, photo, video: Oleksandra Kabakova. Design: Mariia Moroz. Technical support: Valerii Hnydenko, Hryhorii Vinokur