Residence Sorry No Rooms Available
ELENA SUBACH – LIGHT WAVES OF WARM COLOURS ARE THE FIRST TO BE ABSORBED BY WATER
30 October – 30 November 2025, Room 1416, Intourist-Zakarpattia Hotel.

Text by the author:
At the core of my project Light Waves of Warm Colours Are the First to Be Absorbed by Water lie reflections on light, water, and the border. The work was inspired by Anna Atkins — the British naturalist and photographer who, in the nineteenth century, created the world’s first illustrated book using photography; her first images were prints of seaweed.
My own gaze turned toward plants that grow on the edge — between water and land, in the borderlands. If the human body is made up of sixty-five per cent water, what is the body of a plant composed of — one that touches two worlds every day?
In the cyanotype technique, light becomes an instrument of memory. On a surface coated with a light-sensitive iron solution, sunlight leaves an imprint — a reaction occurs, and the paper turns a deep blue. This colour is the trace of a wave carried by a photon, the final glimmer of warmth before it dissolves in water. They say light does not reach the full depth of a river, and not everyone can make it to the opposite shore. Perhaps this blue is the memory of an attempt to cross the threshold where the visible ends.
The exhibition combines handmade cyanotypes and direct photographs of the places I encountered during the Sorry No Rooms Available residency.

The SNRA residence draws attention to the role of culture and art during the russian-Ukrainian war, aims to implement institutionally critical projects related to cultural heritage (tangible and intangible), development of artistic-cultural institutions. The SNRA residency program, the Elena Subach’s participation and her exhibition were implemented thanks to the grant support from The Académie des beaux-arts in Paris (French Academy of Fine Arts).

Photo documentation of the exhibition opening – photo credit: Mykhailo Melnychenko:

Photo documentation of the exhibition – photo credit: Mykhailo Melnychenko: