Exhibition: HUFree Gallery - The Weight Of Remembering

• 17 January - 19 March 2026
• HUFree: Gallery
• Western Library, 254 Boulevard, HU3 3ED

Don't miss the opportunity to meet the artist on Thursday 22 January from 5pm -

Yeseniia Serdiuk is an artist originally from Nikopol in Southern Ukraine.

“Nikopol is a small town of culture, filled with warmth, stories and bright memories. When the war began in 2022 it came under constant Russian attack - a reality that continues today - my life shifted dramatically. After arriving in Hull in 2023, I discovered art for the first time and it became a way to express my feelings, experiences and the harsh realities of war.

I carried with me memories, trauma and a powerful urge to speak. I first started expressing my emotions through painting and drawing and over time it evolved into miniature models. These are personal, emotionally charged works shaped by the events I’ve lived through. What started as quiet reflection and a way of coping has become artworks rooted in pain, survival, memory and resilience. I hope my work transforms my lived experiences and those of others affected by the war into a visual language.

I work across different mediums, building small-scale worlds. These miniature models do not require long explanations: they speak directly. By reconstructing cities, streets, homes, they show before and after - life and devastation. The work conveys what it feels like to lose everything: childhood, home, life. It is about being a child of war, yet not giving up and trying to speak about what is too often left unspoken.

I juxtapose the models here in this exhibition with found photographs of Nikopol long before Russia came. They make me think of the places we visit and enjoy in peacetime. Some even look like Hull. The pairing of model and photographs are to show how we could all loose everything, become displaced, and our home become a battleground when self serving ideologies take over." - Yeseniia Serdiuk

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The , located on the top floor of , opened in May 2025. It showcases and celebrates photography, film-making and print inspired artwork that arises from working class life in HU3 and Hull. Here we will take a closer look, together, at the people and lives, past and present, that are often hidden or paid scant attention. We will explore too, the national and international links that reflect our beautifully diverse HU3 community, and shape who we are.

For more information about HuFree Gallery visit and @eofushu3 on Facebook or Instagram.

• Monday 1.00 – 6.00
• Tuesday 9.30 -1.30
• Thursday 1.00 – 6.00
• Saturday 10.00 -1.00

No need to book - just turn up!

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Host or Publisher Hull Libraries