Demystifying the Myth: Towards a Decolonisation of Nineteenth-Century Representations of Ukraine

This paper offers a decolonial (re-)reading of nineteenth-century European representations of Ukraine, showing that the visual culture of the time played a substantial role in framing the region as peripheral, subjugated, and politically passive. From Polish romantic imaginations to the salons of German art galleries, Ukraine has long been imagined not as an independent cultural entity but as a symbolic space onto which imperial and nostalgic desires of others could be projected. In light of Russia’s ongoing invasion and Ukraine’s renewed need for cultural self-definition, this research advances a (regretfully) timely and future-oriented framework for decolonising visual narratives of Ukraine and redefining the field through more horizontal, transnational, and politically aware methods. Using the work of Józef Brandt as a case study, this paper examines how images of Cossacks and the Ukrainian steppe were aestheticized for both Polish national myth-making and German art markets, while marginalising Ukraine’s growing national consciousness. The project calls for a critical revision of East European art history and for addressing long-overdue questions of appropriation, power, and representational ownership in nineteenth-century visual culture.