Lilia Kodunova - Between, Original Artwork, AOAP Projects

Oil on Birchwood 2025 5x5inches Signed on verso Lilia Kodunova (Ukrainian, b. 1984) was born in Ukraine and now lives in Sevenoaks, Kent. She studied at the Academy of Realistic Art in Kyiv, Ukraine (2018–2022), before continuing her development at the Royal Drawing School in London (2023–2024). Her artistic path has been shaped by movement, change and an evolving understanding of the human psyche. Kodunova’s work is rooted in the figurative tradition yet extends towards psychological inquiry. Her imagery is not concerned with literal likeness but with internal truth: the fragile, shifting states that define contemporary life. She uses the figure as a vessel for exploring the delicate edges of identity — the moments when emotion becomes landscape, memory becomes weight, and silence becomes its own language. Experiencing the upheaval of the war in Ukraine introduced a new sensitivity to her practice, not as its central subject but as a catalyst. It revealed the importance of exploring trauma in its many forms, from personal rupture to collective strain. Through this lens, Kodunova investigates how people absorb instability, how they hold both suffering and strength, and how inner worlds transform under pressure. Her artistic approach combines layered brushwork with atmospheric tension. Figures often exist between clarity and dissolution, mirroring the instability of psychological experience. Her paintings act as mirrors for emotional states that are complex, contradictory and often unspoken. In Kodunova’s practice, the anticipation of inner change is ever-present. Her figures carry both uncertainty and possibility, embodying the belief that even within fractured narratives, transformation remains possible. Education 2023–2024 – Royal Drawing School, Drawing Development Year, London, UK 2018–2022 – Academy of Realistic Art, Painting and Drawing, Kyiv, Ukraine Solo Exhibitions 2025 – Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks, UK Selected Group Exhibitions 2025 – The SVAF Open, Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks, UK 2025 – Drawing Without Borders, Shoreditch Gallery, London, UK 2024 – No Format Gallery, London, UK 2024 – Skulls and Bones, Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield, UK 2023 – Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks, UK 2023 – Artspring Gallery, Tonbridge, UK 2021 – Annual Show of the Academy of Realistic Art, Kyiv, Ukraine Awards, Residencies and Recognition 2025 – Mural Residency, Maidstone, UK 2025 – Dumfries House Residency, Scotland 2025 – Visual Artists Association International Exhibition & Scholarship Prize, Shortlisted Artist 2025 – Jackson’s Art Prize, Extended Longlist 2025 – Visual Art Open, Longlisted Artist About the Work This work forms a quiet conversation about what we keep inside. Between captures a moment of suspension: a figure turned inward, arms folded as if containing thoughts that have no safe way out. It speaks of restraint, of emotions paused between being felt and being revealed. Stay Here shifts from solitude to closeness. An embrace becomes both refuge and vulnerability, expressing the need for protection and the fear of being left alone. There is tenderness here, but also tension — the weight of unspoken dependence. Together, the works trace an intimate emotional landscape: the space between holding back and reaching out, between silence and the desire to be seen.