Osadcha O. Representation of Christian tradition in the Ukrainian art of the second half of the 20th – early 21st.

The thesis covers the problems of functioning of Christian subject in the works by contemporary Ukrainian artists. The research is based on the vast range of pieces, including painting, graphic arts, sculpture, as well as some non-classic forms (like installation and performance). Their number is growing, which, on the one hand, can be explained with the shift of the religion’s status, as it has got back its legitimacy after being tabooed during the Soviet times. On the other hand, the global discourse demonstrates the overall increasing interest in the concepts of spirituality and transcendence. It is stressed that the current social and cultural situation is usually characterized as predominantly rational, positivistic, and opposed to religious worldview. However, recently more and more researchers are pointing out the presence of connections between religion and society, which not only haven’t vanished, but show certain signs of getting stronger. Among other fields of human activity, the tendency of resacralisation manifests itself in visual practices, prompting authors to address such essential part of their historical heritage as religious images.