Ukrainian Art Weeks in Rome
From 21 to 28 July 2026, the prestigious Esperienza Europa – David Sassoli space in Rome (Piazza Venezia 6/C) hosted “La polvere delle strade” (The Dust of the Roads), a solo exhibition by the Ukrainian artist Nataliia Hurieva. The event was part of Ukrainian Art Weeks, a large-scale international cultural project.
Rome as destiny and inspiration
The Eternal City holds a special place in Nataliia Hurieva’s heart. It was love at first sight, and it has only grown stronger with time. It was Rome that held out a helping hand to the artist in February 2022. Here, amid the grandeur of history and so much beauty, friendship, human warmth and the kindness of others helped her hold on when the world suddenly changed forever.
It was in Rome that the international creative project “Un Ponte di Colori” was born, bringing Ukrainian women artists together and becoming a space for dialogue between cultures. That bond took shape in the Ukrainian Art Weeks series, in which nine Ukrainian women artists, Nataliia among them, presented solo exhibitions in the heart of Italy.
The philosophy of “La polvere delle strade”
At the heart of the exhibition lies the metaphor of the journey and the traces it leaves behind.
“Have you ever come back from a special journey and not wanted to wash your clothes straight away? As if, along with the dust of the roads, you might wash away something important: memories, feelings, encounters, inner discoveries,”
“La polvere delle strade” is a profound meditation on the traces left in us by people, cities, love, faith, beauty, travel and time. It tells of traces we have no wish to erase. Some we treasure, because they become part of our story, of our very selves.
Every road changes us. We come back from each one different, with new meanings, experience, gratitude or even pain. Yet it is precisely these encounters and farewells that make up our lives. The exhibition offered a space for dialogue about what is truly worth keeping: the roads whose dust we would rather not shake off.
A symbolic meeting place
Esperienza Europa – David Sassoli on Piazza Venezia proved the ideal setting for the exhibition: a space where history and the present meet. Its windows looked out over the Roman Forums; the Quirinal Palace and the Capitoline Museums stood close by, and across the Tiber lay Trastevere. All around stretched the boundless city of Rome, impossible ever to know completely, yet a constant inspiration for artistic creation and for reflection on existence.
