Betsy Rosenwald: To Understanding, Through Understanding

This exhibition brings together new drawings and paintings created by artist Betsy Rosenwald during her 2025 residency at the Ukrainian Museum of Canada. To Understanding, Through Understanding explores the complex, intertwined identities that emerge from centuries of migration, settlement, cultural exchange, and conflict in Ukraine and its neighbouring regions.

Rosenwald arrived at the Museum with only a broad sense of her family’s roots. However, although she had grown up identifying as “Russian Jewish,” the escalation of russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 sparked a deeper recognition. The names of Ukrainian cities dominating the news—L’viv, Belz, Bila Tserkva, Shepetivka—were, in fact, the places her great-grandparents and grandparents had lived.

During her residency, conversations with Museum staff, as well as engagement with the Museum’s collections, encouraged her to delve into the histories of these regions. In particular, she explored the experiences of Jewish communities within them.

The resulting body of work traces Rosenwald’s journey of rediscovery. It weaves together personal and regional histories. Her paintings and drawings consider how family stories fit within the broader, often turbulent history of Ukraine. At the same time, they examine how the past shapes contemporary understandings of identity and belonging.

By situating her family’s migration story within the long arc of Ukrainian history, Rosenwald invites visitors to reflect on the forces that shape communities. She also highlights the resilience of cultural memory and the ongoing impact of displacement and conflict. Ultimately, To Understanding, Through Understanding is both an intimate exploration and a deeply resonant look at how we come to know who we are—and where we come from.

About the Artist-in-Residence Program

The Ukrainian Museum of Canada’s Artist-in-Residence Program invites contemporary artists to engage with the Museum’s permanent collection and explore new connections between past and present.

Working with over 10,000 cultural objects, including textiles, ceramics, pysanky, and fine and folk art, artists develop new work inspired by Ukrainian and Ukrainian Canadian heritage. Residencies support local and regional artists and are designed to be flexible, allowing them to work alongside existing commitments.

Through this program, the Museum fosters collaboration, experimentation, and dialogue, creating space for contemporary artistic practice within a heritage context.

Photos by Carey Shaw, 2026.