tim lytvinenko

You Can Never Leave You

2023 Wilson Arts Center

Solo show
mixed media photo transfers on wood panels

You Can Never Leave You presents photographs from the artist’s life depicting memory, transience and grief. Instead of printing full or whole photos, Lytvinenko uses a photo transfer process inspired by Japanese Kintsugi, which honors brokenness and change. By breaking the image into 8x8in squares and creating a rebuilt ‘whole’ work on the final surface, the artist transforms photographs into something new with its own memory and imperfections.

A finished work consists of three states. Two of them are easily seen under natural lighting, the full photographic image state under indirect light, and the flawed abstract state under direct light. This invites the viewers to see with their eyes and their feet, giving a choice as they move around in how they want to see the transient work. The third is more secretive — and for good reason. It depicts a feeling of long term grief, which is not openly accessible to everyone, lying underneath the surface of each memory.

The works have been named after old family recipes, providing a comforting yet poignant notion that brings back the resonance of lost smells and tastes.