The young Ukrainian artist with a lot of provocative energy paints explicit erotic scenes that not only got her on Instagram’s censor-list, but are sex education for society.
This talented Ukrainian artist is now a refugee in Berlin.
BERLINABLE spoke with Viktoria about her erotic art, the war, and the chances within: “even though it’s due to a war, it’s a great opportunity for Ukrainians and Germans to connect.”.
In times of war – how is life as a Ukrainian artist known for her erotic art?
Well, first of all, I can’t paint at all, due to not having any supplies or a space to paint…
I was a Ukrainian artist, now I am a refugee in Berlin.
But I think I will have to paint some new pieces soon.
The thing is, in the last weeks I felt like my type of art is something that Ukraine does not need right now.
Who needs erotic art in times of war?
There are more important things right now, right?
But it has been a whole month of a very tiring war, especially for the soldiers, so Ukrainians came up with a very funny and clever idea.
They created a platform on Telegram where you can upload your nudes for soldiers.
Ukrainian nudes for Ukrainian military.
People are posting their nudes to support the Ukrainian soldiers.
Here is the link to it: Postcards to our kittens
Now I understand that people need my art, especially right now.
I even got messages from soldiers at the front, thanking me for my new uploads.
I believe our war will go down in history because it has been the strangest one so far.
On Instagram you can find videos of the “hottest soldiers” and people are asking how they can join the Ukrainian army just to get to these sexy men.
Besides the horrible suffering, this war has also affected us in a positive way, we as Ukrainians have never felt so connected before.
We are one.
That’s why I will continue with my erotic art.
And I thought of a special way to help Ukraine.
I am giving away 10 of my art pieces for free – you can download the files here.
And in return, it would be great if you could donate to one of my dearest friends, Alyona Symonova.
She is a Fashion Designer from Mariupol and many of her friends and family members are still there.
She has not heard from them since March 02. She has been trying to save them, especially her parents.
But the only way to evacuate people is by buying Minivans.
We have already raised 1500$, but need 6000$ in total to buy one for her parents.
Her PayPal account is Val50005@gmail.com and mine is studio.varti@gmail.com
Kyiv or Berlin – what’s the place you call home right now?
Well, I just came here to Berlin two weeks ago, and I already feel at home here.
But what I really call home, is not a place, it’s people.
A month ago, everyone talked about how Putin would invade Ukraine.
And I started to think.
Do I need to leave the country now?
What will I miss most?
My city, the buildings, the streets?
No, I won’t miss the streets.
I will miss my people, a part of my heart.
It’s the people that make me decide where my home is.
That’s why I came to Berlin.
Many of my friends are here. So, I came with my mom and my cat.
Knowing that my close friends are here and safe, I can feel having my home inside of me.
When you just fled your life, left everything behind, it is good to have your people with you.
And when I concentrate on those people, I feel a little less sad about the terrible situation in Ukraine.
Of course, my homeland is Ukraine.
I love the landscapes, the nature, and the cities. It’s a big part of who I am.
You had to leave your artworks in Kyiv.
What kind of feeling is it, as a Ukrainian artist, to leave all your creations behind?
When I packed my stuff, I thought about what I need.
I only packed essential clothes, my laptop and a little bag with paint and brushes.
Yes, my paintings are my babies, my children, but I just could not flee with taking them with me, it would have been too difficult.
So I left everything behind, not knowing if they would be destroyed like so many other things in Ukraine.
But in these times you learn what is really important.
A few days ago, a friend of mine went to Kyiv and another friend suggested to ask him to go to my apartment and get my paintings.
That was an encouraging thought!
But what if something happened to him on the way?
What if a bomb hit while he was in my apartment?
I realized that I would never be able to forgive myself.
And now I know: It’s just art, a life is more important than that.
I just hope I’ll be back.
You’ve been to Berlin a couple of times before.
What do you like about Berlin? And is there something you hate about the city?
That’s hard. There is nothing that I don’t like about Berlin.
You know, I’m just thankful for everything that people have done and still do for us. I really, really appreciate it
I like the freedom, being free is one of the most important things to me.
And I like that Berlin is so similar to Kyiv (because I love Kyiv).
Also, it’s warmer than in Ukraine.
I definitely love the club scene. We can learn from you.
Last week I went to KitKat, it was my first time, and I was really surprised.
You could feel the freedom because if you want you can fuck, but if don’t, you can just dance and talk to people.
No one will judge you. In Ukraine it’s totally different, many people will eye you and talk about you badly.
I always think about what I can do as soon as the war is over.
And I think we can really learn from the Berlin people.
The development of the German society really seems to work.
If you play by the rules, you can do everything here.
In Ukraine it’s different.
I would love to study the life here.
It feels like you can do everything here, in a safe way, without people judging you whatsoever.
I think most Ukrainians are having a good experience here, even though it’s due to a war, it’s a great opportunity for Ukrainians and Germans to connect.
It feels like you are treated like a person here, no matter your nationality.
Berlin is a multicultural place anyway, you can be from Egypt, India or Iraq, and not get judged based on it.
I was really surprised by the German people.
For example, a stranger we had never met before, had recently moved out of the apartment he shared with a friend to live in his own flat for himself.
But when the war started, he moved back in with his friend and gave his apartment away, so refugees can live in it – for free!
In my opinion, the Germans really understand how bad war is and they really want to help.
Even here in school war is a big topic, to educate the children about the history of the world.
You said that you can learn from Berlin. What exactly?
For instance, we can learn about an open-minded society.
Let’s be honest, I love sex, I love having sex with multiple lovers.
Some of them are as open-minded as I am, and we are trying to explore our sexuality together.
But some of my Ukrainian friends who live in monogamous relationships, ask me about my life, and I can feel that they are unhappy in their relationships.
They have desires, but something stops them, or they even stop themselves, which is just weird to me.
They are afraid of an open lifestyle.
In Ukraine, many people feel ashamed to ask their partners for these things.
They never learned how to communicate properly.
Like in my high school, we had a disciplinary course where we talked about medical and sexual topics.
And the main get-away was, “stay a virgin if you want stay healthy and not get pregnant and if you do it, do it with just one man”.
Luckily my mom was pretty open-minded. She explained a lot of things to me.
I think that talking about your desires or emotions with your partner is the way to go.
Talking openly about things also affects your daily life.
I can sit here with you and talk about intimate topics, right, even though we just met.
That’s why you should learn about sexuality, not just after you are 25.
It’s sex, it makes us happy!
And desires that we keep locked inside, make us unhappy.
An example: one of the most popular desires in Ukraine is having a threesome.
And I understand, it’s really fun!
But if you can’t talk about it, you start believing your fantasies are weird, that you are weird.
I always try to explain my feelings and my sexuality, because I feel that every sexuality has the right to exist.
That’s why I like Berlin.
You can feel the freedom everywhere.
Kyiv has a similar vibe to Berlin, but it’s not as free. Yet!
Another thing Ukraine could copy are the regulations and laws. Germany’s laws are clear and universally known by all citizens, that’s what makes them easy to follow.
It would be great if after the war has ended and Ukraine is free again, the laws of the country could be more understandable and openly talked about.
This is what we can learn from you.
As a Ukrainian artist based in Kyiv you have lived in a rather conservative society – how did you find your way to erotic art?
I only started with erotic art 2 ½ years ago.
And it was like a breeze of fresh air coming into my life.
It all started when a female client asked me to do erotic paintings.
Scrolling through my Instagram account, you can see that before that I only did experiments with some erotic fruit paintings, but that was it.
When she ordered erotic paintings of a person, I was surprised that I was able to paint this kind of art as well.
I painted for two months only for her. Luckily, she gave me total artistic freedom.
She told me that I could do whatever I wanted, and if she liked it a lot, she would buy it right away. If not, we would talk about it.
So, I tried experimenting with watercolor, with oil paint.
She loved every single piece.
She bought everything.
It was a completely new experience for me: I realized that someone needed this kind of art!
I wanted to keep doing it and wanted to share it with my followers.
Of course, it was a risk. I knew, if I posted just one of my new pieces, I couldn’t go back.
My friends and family would know that I painted something “bad”.
But at the same time I felt like I couldn’t paint anything else anymore.
For the last 10 years I looked for that ONE thing I would want to do.
I tried landscapes, seascapes, abstracts, and other forms… but nothing made me feel like “oh yes, that’s me!”.
So, I ignored my fears. And I posted my new erotic paintings on Instagram and Facebook.
And surprisingly, people really liked it!
I feared I would lose all my followers.
Of course, some did unfollow, but within 6 months my follower count grew really, really fast.
Women, men, or couples – who likes your art?
70% of my Instagram followers are men.
Sometimes women order works, other times men send me pictures of their girlfriend and them for me to paint as a gift for her.
Nowadays, the man is always negatively connotated when it comes to sex. But hearing about such romantic gestures, I doubt that all men are assholes.
Absoutely not! I know so many really nice guys.
Yes, I do get dick pics in my DM every now and then.
But if they are into sharing their sexuality with me, I let them.
But yeah – Sometimes it is really really romantic!
I received many messages of men telling me: “Me and my wife really love your art. Please make more! We want to see more!”
It’s just heartwarming.
When the war started, some of my followers messaged me, offering me their apartment or offering me to pay for a hotel room to be safe.
I didn’t know these people and they did not know me personally, they just wanted to help an artist they respect.
Sometimes, the media gives you a bad rep and generalizes too much.
Do you think it’s still up to date to distinguish between men and women and not between human and human?
I can only talk about my feeling and what’s it like in Ukraine.
I haven’t traveled through Europe enough to understand the mentality here.
But for me, it doesn’t matter, if you are a man, a woman, transgender or what you identify as.
I tried to explain that in my art.
For example, if it’s a group story, I try to paint in a way where everyone is connected to the other, no matter their gender, sexuality, or appearance.
And I try to do the same in life, no one should be judged based on their sexuality or orientation or something else in that manner.
Before the war, because now the news is flushed with war, war, war, I often saw reports on gender discrimination or homophobia in Ukraine.
Even people I know openly don’t like gay people, but maybe it’s even internalized hate.
In the Ukrainian mentality it’s “unnormal” to be gay.
I think, people need more sexual education. We haven’t had good sexual education in Ukraine since forever.
That’s why a friend of mine has created a platform for sex education, not just for children, but also for adults.
I believe it’s important to explain to people that sexuality is okay the way it is and feels good to you.
No matter if you are a man, woman or anything else.
As a Ukrainian artist, you value freedom, that I know for sure by now.
What type of feelings would bubble up in you if you were standing in front of a Russian right now?
Honestly, that’s a hard question.
Last weekend when I went to KitKat, I met a girl and her name sounded Ukrainian or Russian, so I was curious about where she was from.
Based on my facial structure she guessed that I was from Ukraine.
So, she started talking Russian to me and told me that she is from Russia.
When I heard the word “Russia” I initially twitched and felt something boil up inside of me for a quick second.
But she was with me, in this nice place, wearing a great costume smiling at me the whole time.
She also had a handmade Ukrainian flag sewn onto her mask, which was hanging around her hand.
So, we talked at the bar, where she worked giving me cocktails for free and called me “her queen” the whole night.
She is Russian, yes, but she understands what’s happening right now.
She doesn’t believe in all the bullshit news that the Russian government tries to push onto its people.
And she told me, that when the war started, she had to go to Russia, because her dad had died.
But she couldn’t stay for safety reasons and came back to Berlin.
What a sad story, your father dies the same day Russia starts a war with Ukraine.
But she was standing there, smiling, serving, and telling me stories.
I just thought, “what a strong girl!”
Now I believe that not every Russian is bad.
I don’t want to judge.
But whenever some Russian texts me over Instagram, telling me bullshit stories about Russia, it just makes me angry.
And I understand that they might not know what’s really going on.
But it’s really hard to forgive and forget.
If soldiers say that they did not know what they were doing, I am not fine with everyone forgiving them.
It’s unforgivable what they are doing.
Things like that have happened too many times.
This has to end!
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FINDING UKRAINIAN ARTIST VIKTORIA PROTSYUK
IG: @artistprotsyuk
PATREON: @artistprotsyuk
