Archive text:
oneATELIER has visited the studio of Ukrainian artist Alena Olasyuk, located in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, on Tuesday, 17 February 2026.

Alena's practice centers on the line — obsessive, repetitive, and diaristic. What began in Beijing with Chinese ink and a Soviet nib pen has developed into a long-term investigation of time, memory, war, and belonging. While drawing remains central, Olasyuk expands this language into canvas, rice paper, embroidery, woodcut, resin, photography, and limited-edition zines. She also creates guided meditations connected to her works, transforming exhibitions into spaces of reflection and stillness, where art becomes both visual and experiential.

Positioned in dialogue with Agnes Martin, Pierre Soulages, and François Morellet, her work insists on its diaristic and lived dimension. Each series is less an isolated project than a continuation of an ongoing record, where repetition becomes a method of transformation.

During the visit, the discussion was centered around Alena’s ongoing zine project. While her main practice is drawing, using line as a form of long-term research, around a year and a half ago Alena began developing a parallel series of zines. Through this format, she writes and explores themes that closely connect to the same ongoing investigation. oneATELIER has discussed the project’s development, potential modes of presentation, and which directions may be most worth pursuing further.