Yustyna Prystupa blends artistic creativity with historically accurate authentic storytelling to reveal profoundly moving emotional and contextual truths in her Hexology collection, “We Are Ukrainian”.
“We Are Ukrainian” is a heartfelt call by Yustyna Prystupa to defend the basic human right for self-expression, her collection focuses on the true life stories of Artists, Writers and heroes of Ukraine, whose intellectual and creative outputs have been crushed, in the age of soviet censorship and oppression. Her sensitive approach towards her interpretation has produced a moving testament about the courage, sacrifice and pain of a nation, fighting to preserve its Cultural Identity. Her soulful voice is a prayer, whispered in response to the tragedy and injustice of War, and the 20th Century Cold War that preceded it.
Yustyna is a student of History and Archaeology at the Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University in Ukraine, and participated in the Internship on Global Digital Citizenship and Digital Cultural Curation of Global Heritage at Hexology. Here is her account of her Hexology experience:
We Are Ukrainian by Yustyna Prystupa
Ukrainian culture today exists in a moment of both remarkable strength and constant vulnerability. Its symbols, artworks and historical codes are being challenged, erased or reinterpreted, yet at the same time they have never felt more alive or essential. This tension – between fragility and resilience – shapes the way many of us think about our identity and our responsibility to protect it.
When I began the Hexology internship, this was the question that quietly stayed with me: what can I do to help preserve these cultural layers that feel so exposed right now? I wasn’t searching for grand theories or complicated frameworks. I simply wanted a way to express something honest. I didn’t expect geospatial media to become that path, but that is exactly what it turned into.
The idea for We Are Ukrainian came from a deeply personal place. Ukrainian cultural identity today feels both deeply unsettled and profoundly enduring, and I wanted to capture that tension. I didn’t want to present culture as something static or museum-like, sealed off from life. I wanted it to breathe, to move, to continue existing even when the physical traces of it are disappearing. That is why I turned to mosaics – they are among the most expressive forms of Ukrainian public art. They carry history not as an abstract notion but as something embedded directly into our everyday spaces. Mosaics are simultaneously delicate and enduring, and that duality spoke to me from the start.
My biggest source of inspiration became the mosaics of Alla Horska. I have never seen them in person because none of her works have survived in Ternopil, yet even through the digital photos and archival fragments, her artworks feel incredibly alive. Horska created art that held a clear moral and civic position, that expressed character and a sense of inner freedom. She taught me that cultural expression is not passive – it is a statement, and it deserves protection. Through her, I understood how important it is to speak about Ukrainian culture in a form the contemporary world can understand and how vulnerable it becomes when left without attention.
The internship with Hexology became much more than a project. It opened a way of working with cultural material that makes it feel alive, dynamic and present. I learned how geospatial media can anchor stories in specific locations, giving them context and weight. A place stops being just a coordinate; and instead it becomes a carrier of meaning. And sometimes, a digital presence can be more potent than a physical one. The collaboration with the team pushed me to look beyond what I already knew and helped me understand how cultural objects can move, transform and survive in digital form. Feedback from the university gave me confidence that this work matters not only to me but also to a broader international community.
Hearing reactions from people in other countries was especially meaningful. It helped me see Ukrainian cultural narratives from new angles and understand how they resonate beyond our borders. That sense of shared understanding showed me that even a small collection can speak a universal language and invite others into our story. What began with mosaics eventually grew into a broader narrative about artists, thinkers and creators whose lives and works embody the spirit of Ukraine. Many of them paid the ultimate price for their creativity and beliefs. Their stories remind us that Ukrainian identity is not defined only as a reaction to oppression, but as a result of our unique cultural evolution – and it is intricate, intellectual and deeply human.
Whilst I write this, I imagine people who care deeply about culture and the stories that shape our sense of identity. I hope they can see that Hexology is not just another tool but a new way of engaging with cultural heritage. It allows curators to express stories as intangible experiences rather than simply observed and it also makes it possible to preserve culture even in places where its physical presence is threatened or erased.
This experience reshaped my perspective on how culture can be represented today. It showed me that thoughtful digital formats are necessary for communicating Ukrainian heritage and that they can have a real impact on how our stories are understood globally. Hexology opened the opportunity to experiment, to revive cultural fragments and to place them into a living digital landscape. It empowered me to protect what matters, even when the material world fails to do so.
I am genuinely excited to be part of Hexology and to continue working within this new kind of immersive media. As space, history and digital content merge into a single experience, Ukrainian stories gain the chance to speak clearly, confidently and loudly – and I am grateful to contribute to that.
We are Ukrainian, by Yustyna Prystupa
Courage Art & Ukrainian cultural expression in the age of soviet censorship & repression
- To view Yustyna’s “We Are Ukrainian” collection, open this link on your phone.
- Yustyna Prystupa on LinkedIn
